Siegfried Sassoon was born at Weirleigh outside of the village of Matfield in Kent on 8th September 1886 to Alfred Ezra Sassoon, a member of a wealthy Jewish merchant family, and to Georgiana Theresa Thornycroft, who came from a family of prominent sculptors. He was educated at Marlborough College and then Clare College, Cambridge University. However, he left without completing his degree. 

Between 1907 and the start of the war, he was able to live a comfortable life of writing, playing cricket and other sporting interests. His private income meant he didn’t have to get a job, he nursed ambitions to be both play cricket for Kent and become a writer. In 1913, he achieved moderate success with his book, The Daffodil Murderer a parody of Everlasting Mercy by John Masefield. In 1957, he was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. He died on 1 September 1967 in Heytesbury, Wiltshire, England.