Arthur Eustace Southon

Who was Arthur Eustace Southon?

The Reverend Arthur Eustace Southon, usually known as A. E. Southon, was an English minister in the Methodist Church, and author. He was best known as the writer of On Eagle's Wings, one of the books used as the basis for the 1956 movie The Ten Commandments, one of the most commercially successful films ever released.

Southon was born in London, the son of Walter Southon and Alice Lansdell. In 1915 he became minister at the Methodist Church in Froyle, Hampshire, a post he left in 1919. He married Joyce Mossop around 1916. He is also believed to have worked for a while as a missionary in West Africa and China. He wrote at least 15 books, both fiction and non-fiction, including On Eagle's Wings, which was first published in 1937.

He died in Bristol in 1964 at the age of 77.