Walter de la Mare (1873–1956) was born of a Scottish mother and a father descended from an old Huguenot family. He was educated at St Paul's Cathedral Choir School, which he left at sixteen to work in the City Office of the Anglo-American Oil Company, writing in his spare time under the pseudonym Walter Ramal. He left after nine years to devote his life to letters. His collected poems were published in 1942.

His major works include the children's novel The Three Royal Monkeys and the long poem The Traveller. He was the recipient of much praise and many honours, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Memoirs of a Midget.

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