Hector H. Munro—who took the pen name of Saki when he became a professional writer—was born December 18, 1870, in Burma, to a British army officer and his wife. After the death of his mother in 1873, Saki and his siblings were sent to Britain to be raised by their aunts.

Saki's father retired from the army in 1888 and thereafter took Saki and his sibling on many trips to the European continent. Saki went to Burma in 1893 as a police officer. However, he soon contracted malaria and returned to Britain the following year. He moved to London in 1896 with the hopes of becoming a writer.

In 1899 Saki published his first short story, "Dogged," and the next year he published a nonfic-tion book about the history of Russia. Also that year, Saki collaborated with political cartoonist Francis Carruthers Gould to create "Alice in Westminster," a series...