August 14th H.C. McNeile ‘Sapper’ MC (Death)
     

 

 

 

 

Bodmin – born Herman Cyril McNeile MC (1888 – 1937), always known personally as Cyril, was a soldier and writer who published under the pseudonym ‘Sapper’, a name given to him by his first publisher, Lord Northcliffe, owner of the Daily Mail, who published his war stories.

After the Armistice, he started writing thrillers, known then as shockers and, in 1920, published the first of his tales of the exploits of ‘Bulldog Drummond’.  Allegedly, Sapper based Bulldog Drummond on himself and the exploits of his friends.

Sapper wrote ten Bulldog Drummond novels together with three plays and a screenplay interspersing this work.  One, the original play ‘Bulldog Drummond’, ran for 421 performances at the Wyndham Theatre (1921 – 1922) with Gerald du Maurier, father of Daphne du Maurier (May 13th) , Angela du Maurier and Jeanne du Maurier (March 27th) playing the lead part. 

One of the most successful British popular authors of the inter-war period Sapper died in 1937 from throat and lung cancer, which was attributed to damage sustained from a gas attack in World War I.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                             Previous                                 Next