William Hope Hodgson was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, photographer, lecturer, sailor, and soldier. He was born in Blackmore End, Essex, England on November 15, 1877 to Samuel Hodgson, an Anglican priest, and Lissie Sarah Brown. In 1891 he began a four-year apprenticeship as a cabin boy and in 1895 began two years of study in Liverpool which led him to acquire his mate's certificate. For the next few years Hodgson worked as a sailor and while at sea he became interested in physical fitness and body development.

Hodgson returned home in 1898 and in 1899 opened W.H. Hodgson's School of Physical Culture in Blackburn, England. Eventually realizing that he could not earn a living in personal training he began writing articles which first focused on exercise. Hodgson found the market for such articles to be limited so he turned his attention to fiction, publishing his first short story in 1904. He continued to write fiction for American and British magazines for the remainder of his career mainly in the science fiction, horror, and fantasy fiction genres. Many of his short horror stories were associated with the ocean as he relied upon his experiences at sea for his writings. Hodgson also wrote poetry, though few of his poems were published during his lifetime.

In 1912, Hodgson married Betty Farnsworth and they settled in the south of France. When war broke out in Europe, the couple returned to England where Hodgson became a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. In April 1918, Hodgson was killed by an artillery shell at Ypres.