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This pen belonged to the author Jerome K Jerome. Jerome ranks as Walsall's most distinguished literary figure, even though he lived in the town for only two years. He was born at Belsize House, Bradford Place, Walsall, on 2nd May 1859.

Jerome is most famous for Three Men in a Boat, written in the late 1880s. In the first twenty years, it sold over 200,000 copies in Britain and over a million in America, though the lack of international copyright laws at the time meant that Jerome failed to receive a penny from the US sales.

In 1892, Jerome became joint editor of The Idler, a successful magazine, and in 1893, started his own weekly illustrated paper, To-Day, which also sold well. A prolific writer throughout his life, Jerome's best known play, The Passing of the Third Floor Back, was first performed in 1908 with great success both in Britain and America. His last book, the autobiographical My Life and Times, was published in 1926.

Jerome was honoured with the Freedom of the Borough of Walsall on 17th February 1927. This was only the second time Jerome had returned to Walsall since his childhood. Jerome K. Jerome died shortly after, on 14th June 1927.