narrative_location courageous exploits of doctor syn
Arthur Russell Thorndike ( 6 February 1885 , Rochester , ___MASK76___  7 November 1972 ) was a British actor and novelist , best known for the Doctor Syn of Romney Marsh novels . Less well - known than his sister Sybil but equally versatile , Russell Thorndike ' s first love was writing and , after serving in World War I , he devoted himself to it . Dymchurch is a village and civil parish in the Shepway district of ___MASK76___ , England . The village is located on the coast five miles ( 8 km ) south - west of Hythe , and on the Romney Marsh . Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn is the fifth in the series of Doctor Syn novels by Russell Thorndike . Like the previous volume it is an episodic collection of adventures . It follows Syn ' s adventures in his guise as the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh as he foils all attempts to catch him and to break up the Dymchurch smugglers . Courageous Exploits of Doctor Syn was published in 1939 . It follows the events of Further Adventures of Doctor Syn and is followed by Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn . World War I ( WWI or WW1 ), also known as the First World War , or the Great War , was a global war originating in ___MASK10___ that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918 . More than 70 million military personnel , including 60 million Europeans , were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history . Over nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a result of the war ( including the victims of a number of genocides ), a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents ' technological and industrial sophistication , and the tactical stalemate caused by gruelling trench warfare . It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history , and paved the way for major political changes , including revolutions in many of the nations involved . Shepway is a local government district in ___MASK76___ , England which takes up the south - east corner of the county . Its council is in the town of Folkestone . ___MASK36___ ( abbreviated Sx ), from the Old English " Sþsaxe " ( South Saxons ), is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of ___MASK36___ . It is bounded to the west by Hampshire , north by Surrey , north - east by ___MASK76___ , south by the English Channel , and divided for local government into West ___MASK36___ and East ___MASK36___ and the city of Brighton and Hove . Brighton and Hove was created as a unitary authority in 1997 , and granted City status in 2000 . Until then , Chichester was ___MASK36___ ' s only city . The Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike . The first book , " Doctor Syn : A Tale of the Romney Marsh " was published in 1915 . The story idea came from smuggling in the 18th century Romney Marsh , where brandy and tobacco were brought in at night by boat from ___MASK64___ to avoid high tax . Minor battles were fought , sometimes at night , between gangs of smugglers , such as the Hawkhurst Gang and the Revenue , supported by the army and local militias in the South , ___MASK76___ and the West , Sussex . The Hawkhurst Gang was a notorious criminal organisation involved in smuggling throughout southeast ___MASK3___ from 1735 until 1749 . One of the more infamous gangs of the early 18th century , they extended their influence from Dorset , where they successfully raided the customs house at Poole , to the ___MASK76___ coast . After they were defeated in a battle with the Goudhurst militia in 1747 , two of their leaders , Arthur Gray and Thomas Kingsmill , were executed in 1748 and 1749 . Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of ___MASK76___ and East Sussex in the south - east of England . It covers about . ___MASK76___ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties . It borders Greater London to the north west , Surrey to the west , East Sussex to the south west , and Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north . The county town is Maidstone .