Major Marcus Albert Wolverton was the youngest of three boys from a landed family. His father was a strict conservative man who frowned upon the growing rumors of his youngest son’s popularity in the feminine world, which led to Marcus’s father pressing him to skip university and enlist directly into the army at the age of seventeen. Marcus rose quickly under the command and tutelage of General Sir Herbert Kitchener, Viscount Kitchner, Commander of India. After serving some time in India, Marcus was appointed Brigade Major. What at first appeared to be a normal military posting, Marcus found that, with a bit of ingenuity, he could make a tidy profit from dealing not entirely honestly with the valuable resources India yielded up.

At thirty years of age, Marcus found himself in an uncomfortable personal conflict with Kitchener, and, at length, decided remaining under Kitchener’s command would be impossible for him. Kitchener, not wanting any details to arise concerning issues with his officers, agreed to let Marcus transfer back to London in the year of 1904.

In London, Marcus’s relations with his father continued to be strained, and, in the end, he decided it was best to take up a new life and residence in the rooms of a retired valet on Half Moon Street.