Henry Saunders was born at Peckham, London, on 18 November 1881, the son of Henry John Saunders, a ‘fancy soap maker’, and his wife Mary Ann.

He joined the Royal Navy at the Boys’ training ship, HMS IMPREGNABLE, in June 1897, giving his previous occupation as ‘box maker’.  After short periods in HMS AGINCOURT, NILE and RAMILLIES, he joined the battleship HMS ROYAL SOVEREIGN in September 1899. He was rated Ordinary Seaman on his 18th birthday, and Able Seaman in June 1902. In 1903 he qualified as a Torpedoman and then served in destroyers attached to depot ships WARRIOR, EREBUS and SAPPHIRE II.

In November 1907 he joined the submarine depot ship HMS MERCURY and subsequently moved between her and BONAVENTURE, ARROGANT and DOLPHIN, but details of specific submarines are unknown. He was rated Leading Seaman in May 1909.  From  April 1913 to April 1915 he served in the armoured cruiser HMS COCHRANE, being promoted to Petty Officer in February 1915. He returned to HMS DOLPHIN in April 1915 for duty in HMS H6.  He was serving in this boat in January 1916 when she ran aground near the Dutch Island of Schiermonnikoog. After unsuccessful attempts to refloat the submarine and before Dutch naval forces arrived, the CO, Lieutenant Robert Stopford, managed to transfer around half his crew, including Saunders and other experienced personnel, to other RN vessels in the vicinity. The CO and the remaining crew were interned in the Netherlands, all crew members surviving.

After a short period back at HMS DOLPHIN, he joined HMS MAIDSTONE, the depot ship of the Eighth and Ninth Submarine Flotillas based at Harwich, in June 1916.  At this point, HMS E32 was still being built at J S White’s at Cowes and was launched in August and commissioned in October 1916, but it is not known when Petty Officer Saunders joined her.  After a short period with the Ninth Flotilla, HMS E32 transferred in February 1917 to what was then known as Vulcan’s Flotilla (which later became the Fourteenth Submarine Flotilla), based on the depot ship HMS VULCAN at Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland.  Vulcan’s Flotilla was tasked with patrolling the areas to the west of Ireland in response to the German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare on 1 February. It was in these waters that Petty Officer Saunders lost his life on 1 April 1917 when he was washed overboard and drowned.  His body was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.