Francis Beeding

Francis Beeding was the pseudonym used John Palmer and Hilary A. Saunders.

John Leslie Palmer wrote extensively about early English actors and about British literary figures in his own name. He also wrote fiction under the collaborative pseudonyms Francis Beeding, Christopher Haddon, David Pilgrim and John Somers.

Saunders went by several noms-de-plume: 'Francis Beeding' (writing in tandem with John Palmer), 'Barum Browne' (with Geoffrey Dennis), 'Cornelius Cofyn' (with John deVere Loder), 'David Pilgrim' (with John Palmer), and 'John Somers' (with John Palmer).

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 19461950, 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 The Green Beret. A wartime visit to America for the Ministry of Information was the subject of his Pioneers! O Pioneers! The Sleeping Bacchus is his scarce first and only novel, the story of an art robbery. Saunders was also a post-war commentator on the scouting movements during World War II, chronicled in The Left Handshake, written in 1948.

Palmer and Saunders used the collective pseudonym 'Francis Beeding' for more than thirty novels.