Sidney Groves Burghard (1867-1943) was a prolific British western and thriller writer. He wrote under the pseudonym Ridgwell Cullum. He was an adventurer who left England at age seventeen to go gold-prospecting in the Transvaal. He crossed the seas and settled in the Yukon region of Canada. During his stay in that area, he narrowly escaped starving to death. He next crossed the Canadian border, and became a successful cattle-rancher in Montana.