Born in Bristol in 1914, C. H. Sisson was noted as a poet, novelist, essayist and an important translator.

He was a great friend of the critic and writer Donald Davie, with whom he corresponded regularly.

He reacted against the prevailing intellectual climate of the 1930s, particularly the Auden Group, preferring to go back to the anti-romantic T. E. Hulme, and to the Anglican tradition.

The work notably compares British with French, (then West) German, Swedish, Austrian, and Spanish administrative methods; Sisson sees the British Civil Service as emerging favourably from the comparison.

[11] In 1993 C. H. Sisson was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for his services to Literature.