H. C. McNeile

Herman Cyril McNeile, MC, was born September 28th 1888 in Bodmin, Cornwall. During the first world war, while serving in the Royal Engineers he began writing short stories which were published in the Daily Mail. As serving officers in the British Army were not permitted to publish under their own name, then publisher Lord Northcliffe gave him the nom de plume "Sapper." McNeile continued writing after the war, making the change from war stories to thrillers. In 1920 he published his first Bulldog Drummond, penning ten Bulldog Drummond novels, as well as three plays and a screenplay. He became one of the most successful British popular authors between the two world wars before his death in 1937 from throat cancer, attributed to damage sustained from a gas attack in the war. With McNeile's blessing, the Scottish author and best friend Francis Fairlie continued the series after his death adding seven more novels to the series.