Baroness Emma Orczy was born in Tarnaörs, Heves County, Hungary, Austrian Empire. She moved to England with her family when she was 14 years old. She attended West London School of Art and then the Heaterley School of Fine Art. It was at art school that she met a young illustrator named Henry George Montagu MacLean Barstow whom she married in 1894. After the birth of their son in 1899, she started writing. She wrote in several genres. She is the creator of:
1. 'Henry Ratichon', an agent and confidant of kings and emperors during the Napoleonic era.
2. 'Lady Molly de Mazareen', an amateur sleuth.
3. 'Monsieur Fernand', a Napoleonic-era secret agent.
4. 'Old Man in the Corner', a nameless armchair detective.
5. 'Patrick Mulligan', an Irish lawyer.
6. 'Scarlet Pimpernel (Sir Percy Blakeney)', a chivalrous Englishman who rescues aristocrats before they are sent to the guillotine.