Noah Alfred Saunders was born in 1888 in Pembury, Kent. He was one of 13 children and came from a Romany background on his father's side. He lived in Hersham, Surrey, and enlisted in the King's Royal Rifle Corps in August 1914. At various times during the war he was wounded, gassed, suffered shell shock, and went missing for several days before finding his unit again. He married Jessie McMaster in January 1918, and at the end of March 1918, he was mortally wounded at or near 'Rifle Wood', in France. He died of wounds on 1 April, 1918 at the age of 29, and is buried in Namps-Au-Val British Cemetery.

Antonia Gray