Robert Ernest Vernede was an English poet and writer, well known as a war poet. He was born in London and attended St Paul's School (where he knew G. K. Chesterton and E. C. Bentley) and St John's College in Oxford. Following graduation, he authored novels and short tales. He enlisted in the British Army as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Batt. Rifle Brigade in 1914, at the onset of World War I, despite being over the legal age for service. He served in France and was injured in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He arrived at Somerville Hospital in Oxford. He returned to the front lines, but died after being injured by machine gun fire while commanding an offensive at Havrincourt. He was buried in Le Bucquiere Communal Cemetery Extension. Chesterton wrote an appreciation of Vernede for the school magazine, describing his death as "so heavy a loss for those of us who loved him" and calling it "an addition or completion to that shining company of poets whose patriotism turned them into soldiers, and gave them a life and death more worthy of legend". In 1917, William Heinemann published his War Poems and Other Verses.