Burke was born Sydney Thomas Burke on 29 November 1886 in Clapham Junction. Burke's father died when he was barely a few months old and he was eventually sent to live with his uncle in Poplar. At the age of ten he was removed to a home for middle-class boys who were "[r]espectably descended but without adequate means to their support.", then known as the London Orphan Asylum, the precursor to Reed's School, Cobham. English Literature in Transition 1880–1920 When Burke turned sixteen he started working as an office boy, a job that he deeply detested. In 1901, he published his first professional written work entitled "The Bellamy Diamonds" in the magazine Spare Moments. He also edited some anthologies of children's poetry that were published in 1910–1913.
