author
R. E. (Robert Ernest) Vernède
1875–1917
Remembered today as a war poet, he wrote fiction and verse before serving in the Rifle Brigade during the First World War. His life was cut short in 1917, and his writing carries both literary polish and the immediacy of lived experience.
1 Audiobook
The Fair Dominion: A Record of Canadian Impressions
by R. E. (Robert Ernest) Vernède
About the author
Born in London in 1875, Robert Ernest Vernède was educated at St Paul's School and St John's College, Oxford. After university he published novels and short stories, building a literary career before the First World War reshaped his life and work.
When war began, he enlisted even though he was older than many new officers, serving as a second lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade. He was wounded on the Somme in 1916, returned to duty, and was killed on 9 April 1917. That wartime service is central to how he is remembered now.
Vernède's reputation rests largely on his poetry and letters from the war years, which combine reflection, restraint, and a clear sense of duty. For listeners interested in First World War writing, his work offers the voice of a man who was already an established author before the conflict and then wrote from inside it.