| Biography of Rabindranath Tagore |

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H.H. Munro (SAKI)

Hector Hugh Munro (Dec 18, 1870 - Nov 14,

1916) was a witty British author who published
under the pen name SAKI or H.H. Munro. The
inspiration for the pen name "Saki" is unknown,
it may be based upon a character in a poem or
on a South American monkey. Given Munro's
intellect, wit, and mischevious nature it's
possible it was based on both simultaneously. As
a writer, Munro (Saki) was a master of the short
story form and is often compared to O. Henry
and Dorothy Parker.
Munro was born in Akyab, Burma (now known as
Myanmar) in 1870. In 1872 while she was on a
trip to England, his mother Mary was charged by a cow. She suffered a
miscarriage, never recovered, and died in 1872 when Munro was only two
years old. After her death, the Munro children were sent from Burma back to
England where they lived with their grandmother and aunts in a strict
puritanical household. In his early career, Munro became a police officer in
India and was posted to Burma where he contracted malaria before returning
to England in 1895.
When the war broke out, Munro refused a commission joined the British
armed forces as a regular trooper where he was certain to see battle. He was
killed in action by a German sniper. His last words were reported as, "Put that
bloody cigarette out!" In one of those unfortunate twists of fate, the papers
that Munro had left behind were destroyed by his sister Ethel, who wrote her
own account of their childhood. Murno never married and may have been
gay, but homosexuality was a crime in Britain during Munro's lifetime and
the decorum of the times would have required him to keep that part of his
life secreted away.
Munro had a penchant for mocking the popular customs and manners of
Edwardian England. He often did so by depicting characters in a setting and
manner that would contrast their behavior with that of the natural world;
often demonstrating that the simple and straightforward rules of nature
would always trump the vanities of men. This is demonstrated gently in The
Toys of Peace where parents from Edwardian England are taught a lesson
that is still familiar to modern parents. And it is demonstrated with striking
clarity in the highly recommended story The Interlopers. The Open Window is
a fine example of his more humorous work is a highly recommended read.
Munro passed away November 13, 1916 in France.