Born in Hungary, Lincoln converted to Christianity in 1900. Following some years of missionary work among the Jews, he returned to England in 1903. After failing his priesthood exams and squandering his wife's fortune, he was engaged by the philanthropist Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree as a researcher for his book Land and Labour: Lessons from Belgium (1911). Rowntree used his influence to get Lincoln adopted as Liberal candidate for Darlington where he won a surprise victory by 29 votes in January 1910. His performance in the House of Commons earned him ridicule and financial difficulties prevented him standing in the election of December 1910.
With Rowntree's assistance, Lincoln floated a series of public companies, which all collapsed and by 1914 he was down and out. On the outbreak of war, he offered his services as a double agent to British naval intelligence. After rejection, he turned to the Germans who engaged him to send reports on British shipping movements. In 1915 he panicked, abandoned his family and fled to the USA. There he published an embroidered version of his exploits. He was arrested, escaped, was recaptured and extradited to Britain. There he was sentenced to three years in gaol for fraud.
Deported in 1919, Lincoln spent time in right-wing circles in Germany, Budapest, Vienna and Prague. He was deported from Vienna in 1921 and wandered to China, where he spent most of the rest of his life. After two years as an arms dealer, he converted to Buddhism. He shaved his head took the name of Chao Kung and attained the rank of Bhodisattva. He established his own monastery. During WW2 he did some low-level intelligence work for the German and Japanese in Shanghai. His death may have been at the hands of the Shanghai Gestapo.
Endowed with linguistic facility and great personal magnetism, Lincoln was an unscrupulous confidence trickster and ruined many lives. He published Autobiography of an Adventurer in 1932. It is readable but unreliable.