Dashiell Hammett

Abstract

Samuel Dashiell Hammett, the son of Richard Thomas Hammett and Annie Bond Hammett, was born in Saint Mary’s County, Maryland on 27 May, 1894. He was of Scottish and French ancestry; Dashiell was an Americanised version of De Chiel, his maternal grandmother’s family name. Both Hammett’s father and grandfather were known as business failures, heavy drinkers, gamblers and ladies’men; proud, pugnacious, stubborn, independent and ambitious, though inherently lazy. Hammett’s mother, nicknamed ‘Lady’ by her inlaws, treated her husband and his family with disdain. She was equally proud and independent, and outspoken in her disapproval. Her influence over Hammett may be judged by his avowed intention never to behave as his father had toward his mother.