Barr (1849-1912) was a Scottish-Canadian short story writer and novelist who abandoned his early teaching career to write for the Detroit Free Press, later becoming its news editor. In 1881 he moved to London where he founded The Idler magazine in 1892 in collaboration with Jerome K Jerome. In 1895 he retired from its co-editorship to become a more prolific novelist, publishing a book a year. Considered one of his best works, this novel centring on an industrial strike was first published in 1896.