Background
He was born at Eastbourne and educated at Bootham School.
He was born at Eastbourne and educated at Bootham School.
His background was Quaker. He met Gill in Hammersmith, London, during World War I, through the Hampshire House hops. At that time Pepler was a social worker for the London County Council, and organised the first London school meals service.
Pepler and Gill were together mostly responsible for the Ditchling house magazine, The Game.
He founded in 1915 or 1916 the Saint Dominic"s Press. lieutenant published, amongst other books, important editions for the Ulysses Bookshop in High Holborn, London, owned by Jacob Schwartz, to 1937.
These included works of James Joyce (in fact pirate editions), but also George Bernard Shaw, John Drinkwater, Augustus John, Chesterton and John Collier. He became a Roman Catholic convert in 1916.
And joined the Dominicans as a lay member in 1918.
At that time he changed his name to Hilary. Financial quarrels between Pepler and Gill may have led to Gill leaving the Ditchling group in 1924. Pepler was forced to leave the Guild in 1934.
After Chesterton"s death in 1936, Pepler assisted Reginald Jebb, son-in-law of Hilaire Belloc, in running The Weekly Review, the successor distributist publication to G. K."s Weekly.
Pepler"s son, French
Stephen Dorril"s Blackshirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism (2006) mentions Pepler in passing, as a member of the British People"s Party in 1945.