Reverend Robert Edward Knowles was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1891. As a direct result of the shock that occurred from his involvement in a train wreck in 1911, Rev. Knowles required a number of rest cures but they had little effect and in 1915, unable to carry out his duties, he resigned from the ministry and continued his literary career that started in 1905 with the publication of his first novel, St. Cuthbert’s. He was also a contributor to the Toronto Daily Star,