E.W. Hermon had a privileged education at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, but it was while he was up at Oxford that he answered the appeal to 'defend the Empire' and joined the 7th Queen's Own Hussars in 1900 in order to fight in the Boer War in South Africa. After this conflict ended, he returned to England with the regiment.
The editor, Anne Nason, is the granddaughter of Lt. Colonel E.W. Hermon and the daughter of 'Mairky' (Mary), who bequeathed her the letters. She lives with her husband in Wiltshire and currently has nine grandchildren.