Biography

Ridgwell Cullum was the pseudonym of British author and adventurer Sidney Groves Burghard. He was born in London, England on August 13, 1867 where, as a young man not yet eighteen, he chose leave England to prospect for gold in the Transvaal region of South Africa. Later he traveled to the Cape of Good Hope, where he became involved in the conflict between British and Boar settlers. Soon though, news of a gold strike lured Burghard to the Canadian Yukon. There he would suffer severe depredations leading him to eventually trek south of the border to the balmy climes of Montana. In time he would settle down and become a prosperous Montana cattle rancher. In 1889 Burghard enlisted in the US Army and may have been involved in putting down the Sioux Indian uprising of 1890-91. Burghard finally found the gold he was searching for after he published his first book "Devil's Keg" in 1903. After its immediate success he decided to concentrate on writing full time and began what would be a nearly forty year career as an author of popular action and adventure stories that would rival those of Zane Grey. Burghard may have been a very private man, for despite his great success, there is scant mention of him in newsprint outside of the occasional advertisement for one of his books. He died on November 3, 1943, possibly at Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, which, in 1921, he listed as his home on a steamship passenger manifest while traveling under the name Ridgwell Cullum. Edwardian Review, Registry of Authors, SS Olympic Passenger Manifest, March 17, 1921,
- IMDb mini biography by: John F. Barlow