Hector Hugh Munro was born 18 December, 1870 in Akyab, Burma, son of Scotsman Charles Augustus

Munro, an inspector-general in the Burma police and his mother, Mary Frances (née Mercer) who died
in a tragic accident in England with a runaway cow in 1872. He had a brother Charles and sister Ethel
(who like Hector would never marry).

After the death of Munro's mother, the children were sent to Broadgate Villa, in Pilton village near
Barnstaple, North Devon to be raised by aunts who frequently resorted to corporal punishment. It is
said that they were most likely models for a few of his characters, notably Sredni Vashtar.
Undoubtedly the days of his youth would provide much fodder for his future career. Leading slightly
insular lives Munro and his siblings were initially educated under tutelage of governesses. At the age
of 12 young Hector was sent to Pencarwick School in Exmouth and Bedford Grammar School.

In his early 20s, Munro went to Burma in 1893 to join the Colonial Burmese Military Police (an
occupation which George Orwell would later pursue as well) until ill-health caused him to return to
England a year later. Munro would then embark on his career as a journalist, writing for various
publications including the Daily Express, the Bystander, The Morning Post, the Outlook and his Lewis
Carroll-esque "Alice in Westminster" political sketches for the Westminster Gazette. He often satirised
the then Edwardian society with veiled and cruel innuendo, sometimes bitter and often unconventional

Munro's first book, a historical treatise called The Rise of the Russian Empire was released in 1900. His
collection of short stories Not-so-Stories came out in 1902.

From 1902 to 1908 Munro worked as a foreign correspondent for The Morning Post in the Balkans,
Russia and Paris. He would publish The Chronicles of Clovis (1911) a collection of his short stories and
Unbearable Bassington (1912) shortly after. The heartless and cruel Reginald and Clovis are two of his
most famous heroes. He deals with the theme of what would happen if the German emperor
conquered England in When William Came. (1914) Beasts and Super-Beasts was published the same
year.

World War I started and while he was officially too old, at age 44 Munro volunteered as a soldier,
enlisting in the 22nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. He was offered a commission but refused, saying he
could not expect soldiers to obey him if he did not have any experience. He wrote a number of short
stories from the trenches and promoted to Lance Sergeant (full Corporal) in September of 1916.

Just a month later, on 16 November 1916, while serving near the French town of Beaumount-Hamel,
Hector Hugh Munro was fatally shot by a German sniper's bullet. According to several sources his last
words were: "Put that damned cigarette out!" It is alleged that Munro's sister Ethel had destroyed his
personal papers

Saki Biography

Hector Hugh Munro was born in Akyab, Burma on December 18, 1870. Hector’s father was
Inspector-General of the Burma Police. The youngest of three children, Hector spent most of his
early childhood at Broadgate Villa, in Pilton village near Barnstaple, North Devon. Their father had
left the children there in the care of his two sisters and mother before leaving for India. Charles,
Ethel and Hector grew up in a house populated by three adults, their aunts Charlotte (Tom) and
Augusta, and their grandmother. Some of Saki’s characters come from this very household, his
aunts were to serve as prototypes on which to base a number of his characters. Aunt Augusta is the
inspiration for the women in both Sredni Vashtar and The Lumber Room while Aunt Tom was the
creative impetus for The Sex that never Shops. Ethel Munro recalls that their tastes in reading (or
being read to) centered around Robinson Crusoe,Masterman Ready, Alice in Wonderland. Saki was
especially fond of Johnnykin and the Goblins.

Hector was not a very strong child, neither of the three children were. The family doctor had declared
that neither of the siblings would reach adulthood. Out of concern for Hector’s health his departure
for school was delayed and he was coached for many years by governesses. The children lived
insular lives rarely meeting other children their age, both aunts lacked the demeanor necessary to
raise young children. The three children got by on regular doses of excitement supplied by their
Uncle Wellesly (who visited once a year), trips to family on their mothers side and visits from their
father (who could only come down once every four years).

Hector was finally sent to Exmouth at age 12, the year after his grandmother passed away. Charlie
had been to Exmouth as well and Hector spent three enjoyable years there before moving to
Bedford Grammar at age 15. By the time he was 16, Hector’s father had retired and was back to
spend more time with his children. For the next few years the three children spent time with their
father, often travelling to the continent. Ethel remembers fondly a few winters spent in Davos,
Switzerland.

In June 1893, Saki left for Burma; his father had arranged a post for him in the military police. Hector
spent 13 months in Burma, he was sick on a number of occasions but found time to pursue his study
of Burmese animals, even raising a tiger-cub for a while. He continued collecting eggs, a hobby he
had begun while in England. His love for wild animals solidified in Burma as he found a more varied
and exotic fauna towards which to direct his attention. In 1894 Saki had to return to England after a
particularly severe bout of Malaria. In 1896, after spending some time convalescing in Westward Ho,
where his father and sister had settled.

In 1896 Saki left for London and began to write political satires for the Westminster Gazette. The
satires were illustrated by Carruthers Gould and depicted public figures as characters in Alice in
Wonderland, these essays were later collected and published as The Westminster Alice. A collection
called Not so stories was published soon after in 1902. Saki had earlier published a work called The
rise of the Russian Empire which was his only work of serious non-fiction. 1902 also saw him in the
Balkans as a correspondent for the Morning Post. Saki came to love the upheaval of the region,
something that is apparent in his story The cupboard of the Yesterdays.

In early 1904 his job with the Morning Post took him to Warsaw and by that autumn he was in St.
Petersburg where Ethel joined him for a while, together they watched fighting erupt all over St.
Petersburg. Saki stayed in Petersburg for two years. In 1906 he moved to Paris, writing for
the Morning Post and a French paper. In May 1907 Hector had to rush back to England as his
father’s health had taken a turn for the worse. A couple of days after Saki’s arrival, his father died.
Ethel accompanied Saki to Pourville later that summer and by September he was back in Paris. In
1908 he returned to London and began to stay at 97 Mortimer Street. Saki spent evening at his
club, The Cocoa Tree while in London. He’d also bought a cottage in Surrey Hills where Ethel stayed
with him.

Saki wrote for the Morning Post, Bystander, Westminster Gazette and the Daily Express. In
1910 Reginald in Russia was published. This was followed in 1912 by The Chronicles of Clovis and
in 1913 by When William Came. By the Spring of 1914 Saki was writing a column called Potted
Parliament for Outlook and in 1914 Beasts and Super Beasts was published. When war was
declared in late 1914, Hector rushed to enlist and was stationed with the 22nd Battalion, Royal
Fusiliers in Horsham, Sussex. Hector’s brother Charlie attempted to enlist as well but was not given
leave from his position as Governor of Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. The next year was hectic for Saki,
he spent a number of months training in Horsham with one brief visit back to Barnstaple when his
AUnt Tom died in January 1915.

In November 1915 Saki’s company was sent to France after rumours that they were to be sent to
Serbia were not substantiated. Saki would have liked to return to the Balkans as a soldier. Hector
spent the next year with his troops in France. He was still a Non Commissioned Officer, and he left
for France as a Corporal, having refused a number of opportunities for commission. In June 1916
Saki returned to London on a short leave and spent a few days with Ethel and Charles.

In September Saki was promoted to Lance-Sergeant, he’d always held that he would learn to be a
soldier before he’d feel ready to command other soldiers. Saki suffered another bout of Malaria in
October and spent about a month at the battalion’s hospital. When he heard of the impending attack
on Beaumont-Hamel he returned to his Battalion in the weakened state his illness had left him.

Hector Hugh Munro, Saki was killed by a sniper early in the early hours of a wintry dawn on
November 13, 1916

often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. Influenced by Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll and Rudyard
Kipling,