Hilary Saint George Saunders

Who was Hilary Saint George Saunders?

Hilary Aidan Saint George Saunders was a British author. Saunders was born in Clifton, near Bristol. During World War I he served with the Welsh Guards.

Saunders went by several noms-de-plume: Francis Beeding, "Barum Browne", "Cornelius Cofyn", "David Pilgrim", and "John Somers".

A chronicler of World War II and biographer of Robert Baden-Powell, Saunders was a recorder on Admiral Mountbatten's staff during World War II. Saunders was Librarian of the House of Commons Library from 1946–1950, when he retired because of ill health.

Saunders became known during World War II for his books and pamphlets, The Battle of Britain, Bomber Command, Coastal Command, etc., which he wrote officially and anonymously for the Government, and subsequently for the Red Beret and Green Beret. The Sleeping Bacchus is his scarce first and only novel, the story of an art robbery. Saunders was also a postWar commentator on the Scouting movements during World War II, chronicled in The Left Handshake, written in 1948.