Educated in Classics at Cambridge University, Hay became a schoolmaster after graduation. He taught at Charterhouse, Fettes, Durham School before returning to Fettes, spending over a decade before producing his first work. His first novel, Pip (1907), was rejected and he was forced to pay a publisher £50 to publish it. The book was an immediate success. Finally in 1912, Hay left teaching to become a full-time writer. Hay took part in the First World War as a second lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He took part in many battles, winning the Military Cross and promotion to major. He produced The First Hundred Thousand, a collection of war-related articles he had written for Blackwood's Magazine, which was very popular at the time. In 1918, he was awarded a CBE. Following the war, he continued to write novels, but also produced a series of plays. He collaborated with other playwrights, including P.G. Wodehouse. In 1938, he was appointed Director of Public Relations at the War Office and given the honorary rank of major-general. He retired in 1941. He published several volumes of war histories following the war. His many works include A Man's Man (1909), Happy-Go-Lucky (1913), Carrying On (1917), Tilly of Bloomsbury (1919), The Willing Horse (1921), The Sport of Kings (1924), The Poor Gentleman (1928), Mr. Faint-Heart (1931), David and Destiny (1934), Housemaster (1936), Little Ladyship (1941), Hattie Stowe (1947), Arms and the Men (1939-1945) and Cousin Christopher (1953). |
