Robin Hunter Neillands


1935 - 2006

Author, traveller and military historian. Born in Glasgow, Neillands was brought up by his grandmother in Wiltshire (England), his father having been killed during the Second World War. After National Service, he entered the publishing industry, which led to the launch of his own small publishing business. He began writing well-researched travel guides on the regions of France in the mid-1970s and followed this with Cycle Touring in France (1984) and Britain by Bicycle (1985), written under the pseudonym of Rob Hunter. Also a keen walker, Neillands also wrote Walking Through France: from the Channel to the Camargue (1988), Walking Through Spain: from the Channel to Gibraltar (1991), Walking Through Ireland: from Antrim to Kerry (1993) and Walking Through Scotland: from the Borders to Cape Wrath (1995).

He also wrote fiction, including the thrillers The Fourth Angel (1985), subsequently produced as a film, Quarry's Contract (1987) and The London Connection (1990). Remarkably Neillands then went on to write military history, producing more than twenty books on the subject before his death as a result of cancer. These included The Raiders: The Army Commandos 1940-45 (1989), The Hundred Years War (1990), Wellington and Napoleon: Clash of Arms (1994), The Dervish Wars: Kitchener and Gordon in the Sudan (1996), The Battle of Normandy 1944 (2002), The Bomber War: Arthur Harris and the Allied Bomber Offensive (2001), which was nominated for a military literature prize, a biography of Ulysses Grant (2004), The Battle for the Rhine 1944 (2005) and The Death of Glory: The Western Front 1915, published posthumously in 2006.

He died in Wiltshire.


Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry arrow

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better