John Lang (1816-1864), a lawyer and Australia's first native novelist, was born at Parramatta, Sydney, Australia. He later went to Cambridge in March 1837 only to qualify as a barrister and return to his home country. In India, Lang is known for his career as a solicitor, particularly, when he was defending the Ranee of Jhansi against the East India Company's policy of land seizures under the Doctrine of Lapse. He was also a journalist and had established a paper, The Mofussilite, at Meerut. As a novelist, he was associated with books like Too Clever by Half, Clever Criminals, The Ex - Wife, a