The Author
simon Hirst
Education & Career History
Simon Hirst was educated at Eton College and Keble College, Oxford University, where he was an Open Scholar and won a First-Class Honours degree with an MA in Geography. After two years working at British merchant bank, Hambros, he won a Thouron Fellowship to the Wharton School in the US, where he graduated with an MBA.
For 10 years, Simon worked in New York as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers and The Blackstone Group, before returning permanently to the UK. There, he was appointed the European Head of the Transportation & Infrastructure Group at Salomon Smith Barney in London, before becoming the Joint Global Head of M&A at Commerzbank. Subsequently, he went on the Board of London Stock Exchange listed broker Durlacher Group, before being promoted to CEO. After leading the turnaround of the business, he helped orchestrate the reverse merger of Durlacher with Lazard’s Panmure Gordon division (now Panmure Liberum).
Following the sale of the firm, Simon and his identical twin brother Julian founded the European arm of private equity advisory boutique Tri-Artisan Partners.
For the past decade, Simon has dedicated his time to teaching and writing. He is currently a Visiting Professor of The Frankfurt School of Finance & Management in Germany, IE Business School in Spain, and Bayes Business School in the UK. In the winter months, he spends 7 weeks over in the United States where he is a Lecturer at Yale School of Management, teaching M&A and Equity Capital Markets as electives to the MBA class.
Writing Career
Simon first began writing in 2017, when he wrote an illustrated book called the Life & Times of Francis & Riversdale. This work, intentionally unpublished, formed the background research for the two novels.
This first factual history book was shared with Grenfell family members and the prominent descendants of the Grenfell twins’ friends, resulting in much follow-up correspondence and the receipt of letters of thanks. These included ones from the progeny of the real-life characters featured in the two novels. In 2023, Simon began writing the two historical novels, an exercise which took nearly three years to complete because of the depth of research required, and the time needed to craft it into a fluid and compelling story; told from a female protagonist’s point of view. Finished in the summer of 2025, these two books were published by Holand Press, an independent publishing house specialising in historical works, in September 2025.
The French Connection
From 2003 to 2020, Simon owned and restored Château de Castelmerle, near the beautiful medieval village of Monpazier in the Dordogne region of SW France. This gave him a lifelong appreciation of French culture and architecture. As a result, Simon opted to create a French female protagonist and have several chapters set in France.
Another reason for this decision was to differentiate the story from several successful pre-existing creative works, such as Downton Abbey, which have featured upper-crust young female English girls, such as Lady Mary Crawley, as key characters. A French female protagonist adds style, while providing contrasting attitudes and provocative dialogue.
A third factor was the Grenfell family’s long association with France, the ‘Grenfell’ name being an anglicised derivative of the Norman surname ‘Granville’. In March 1815, when in Lyons on a foreign language exchange visit to learn French, Pascoe St Leger Grenfell even came face-to-face with Napoleon Bonaparte after the latter’s escape from the Mediterranean Island of Elba. This was three months before the Battle of Waterloo. The Emperor smiled at Pascoe Grenfell and said, “Bonjour, mon petit Anglais.”
Family Life
Simon is the younger twin son of Sir David and Pamela Hirst. His father was a prominent barrister and Queen’s Counsel, whose clients included The Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney, the Bee Gees, and American historical fiction author Leon Uris. His father later became a Lord Justice of The Court of Appeal of England & Wales. Sir David was a King’s Scholar at Eton College and in later life was a Fellow on the Board of Governors of the school for 25 years.
Simon & Julian Hirst, working in New York in 1984
Sir David Hirst
The author’s mother and her uncle, Richard Briscoe MC, in 1937
Simon lives in the picturesque market town of Crickhowell, in the Usk Valley of South Wales. His wife, Caroline died in 2006 at the age of only 46. He has 2 daughters, Charlotte and Victoria. His twin brother, Julian, lives in South Somerset in England.