Jerome Klapka Jerome, noted English writer and humourist. Born on May 2, 1859, in Caldmore, Walsall, England, he was the fourth child of Jerome Clapp—a nonconformist lay-preacher, ironmonger, and amateur architect—and Marguerite Jerome. Though named after his father, Jerome later adopted his middle name, Klapka, in honour of the Hungarian exile and hero George Klapka, who, allegedly, had stayed with the family while writing his memoirs. Inspired by one of Henry Longfellow’s poems, he decided to write about his days as an actor. In 1885, On the Stage—and Off came out. It was a comic memoir about his days in the repertory troupe. This work was to mark the real start of Jerome’s literary career. Four years later, in 1889, he came out with the book he is best known for, Three Men in a Boat.