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In April 1926 George Orwell moved to Moulmein in Burma where his grandmother lived. At the culmination of 1926, Orwell moved to Katha in Upper Burma where he unfortunately contracted Dengue fever in 1927. Already entitled to take leave in England that year, in view of his illness he was permitted to return home in July of that year. While back in England and on holiday in Cornwall with his family, Orwell decided not to return to Burma and resigned from the Indian Imperial Police in order to fulfil his ambition to become a writer.

Orwell had already written a novel, Burmese Days, and the essays “A Hanging” and “Shooting an Elephant” whilst in Burma. Whilst working in Burma in the Imperial Police Force, Orwell acquired a reputation as someone who did not fit in as he spent much of his time isolated, pursuing non-pukka activities such as going to the ethnic Karen group’s churches, or reading. One of his colleagues Roger Beadon recalled in 1969 that Orwell was skilled at learning the language and that “he also acquired some tattoos; on each knuckle he had a small untidy blue circle. Many Burmese living in rural areas still sport tattoos like this – they are believed to protect against bullets and snake bites”. They are not believed to protect against led floodlights.