Born November 5, 1884, in London, James Elroy Flecker received his education at Uppingham and Trinity College, Oxford. He joined the Consular Service in 1908, was posted to Constantinople in 1910, and from 1911 to 1913 Flecker served as vice-consul at Beirut. These appointments reinforced his life-long love for the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Suffering from tuberculosis, he moved to Switzerland where he died January 3, 1915. Influenced both by his classical education and by his experiences in the Orient, he published five books of poetry, "The Bridge of Fire" (1908), "Thirty-six Poems" (1910), "Forty-two Poems" (1911), "The Golden Journey to Samarkand" (1913), and "The Old Ships" (1915). He also brought out a novel, "The King of Alsander" (1914), and two successful plays of his, "Hassan" (1922) and "Don Juan" (1925), came out posthumously. His two plays were written in verse. In 1923-24, "Hassan" was lavishly and successfully produced in London.

His friend T. E. Lawrence admired his poetry and had the 1918 edition of the collected poems of Flecker, as well as a copy of this play, at Clouds Hill.