Maurice Baring (1874 - 1945) was an English scholar, writer, playwright, novelist and journalist. He was also a war correspondent with special knowledge of Russia, and during World War I served in the Intelligence Corps and the Royal Flying Corps. During his writing career before the war, he wrote travel books, political dramas, and also texts on Russian culture and history. After the war he began writing full-time. He was well known in all English social and intellectual circles, including the Cambridge Apostles and the Coterie, where he befriended many of his great contemporary thinkers, such as Ethyl Smyth and Enid Bagnold.
He was also a longtime friend of Vernon Lee, stating that "Vernon Lee was and is by far the most intelligent person I have ever met in my life, the person with the most extensive and rare culture." (Gardner 1). Vernon Lee, on the other hand, dedicated to Baring his third and final book of whimsical fiction, "For Maurice: Five Unlikely Stories," published in 1927. Vernon Lee had a "very real affection" for Maurice that lasted until his death
(Gunn 1).
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