John Jeffery Farnol (February 10, 1878 – August 9, 1952), was an English author, known for his many romantic novels, some formulaic and set in the English Regency period, and swashbucklers. He with Georgette Heyer founded the Regency romantic genre; one of his first books, The Broad Highway, has been issued in a version edited by Barbara Cartland. He was born in Aston, Birmingham, and brought up in London and Kent. He attended the Westminster Art School, after he had lost his job in a Birmingham metal-working firm. In 1900, he married Blanche Hawley, daughter of the noted New York scenic artist Hughson Hawley; they moved to the United States, where he found work as a scene painter. The success of his early novels led Farnol to become a professional writer; he returned to England around 1910, and settled on the south coast. He produced around 40 novels and volumes of stories, and some non-fiction and children's books. He died after a long battle with cancer. His last book was completed by his second wife Phyllis (nee Clarke), whom he had married in 1938.