Oliver Stonor was an English novelist, reviewer, translator, and man of letters.
Background
He was born at Teddington, the son of Alfred Hills Stoner and Sarah Louise Stoner, and educated at Kingston Grammar School. His father and grandfather were quantity surveyors, and he was trained in this profession at the offices of the family firm in Broad Street, City of London.
Career
He was briefly the husband of the Irish writer Norah Hoult. As soon as he was 21, he took up writing as a career in the Literary London of the 1920s, though he later put his surveying to good use in wartime. He used the nom-de-plume Oliver Stonor because he felt it looked and sounded better than his own name.
The "er" at the end of "Oliver", clashing with "Stoner", prompted the change to "Stonor".
The name Morchard Bishop is actually that of a town in Devon. In 1926, he visited the home of the writer Arthur Machen, who was living at Melina Place.
Stonor also corresponded with John Betjeman. His last will and testament can be traced through the United Kingdom Indexes of Wills and Probate, and appears in the following form: "STONER, Frederick Field, otherwise Oliver or BISHOP, Morchard of Velthams Morebath Tiverton Devon died 12 April 1987 Probate London 28 August 1987 £399411".