Hector Hugh Munro was born on 18 December 1870 in Akyab, Burma (now called Sittwe, Myanmar). He adopted the pen name of Saki in 1900.
He travelled widely and was in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 when the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, took place. This was reported in the Saki obituary published in the North Devon Journal, 7 December 1916.
Serving as a Lance Serjeant in 'A' Company, 22nd (Service) Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers (Kensington), he entered France on 17 November 1915 and died, aged 45 years, on 14 November 1916 when sheltering in a shell crater near Beaumont-Hamel, France, during the Battle of the Ancre. As he has no known grave he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Authuille, Somme, France.
Probate records confirm his address was 97 Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, London, W1 and that when probate was granted on 23 December 1916 to his brother, Charles Arthur Munro, a governor of an H.M. Prison, his effects totalled £963-11s-4d. On 10 April 1917 his army effects totalling £8-16s-9d were sent to his brother who also received his £10-10s-0d war gratuity on 10 October 1919.
He was posthumously awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
Our picture source gives a biography of his life.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
