British Poet and Playwright. Born at Leytonstone, Essex, the son of a schoolmaster who turned to acting. He grew up in Oxfordshire and, on leaving school at 15, became an insurance clerk in Nottingham, moving with the company in 1901 to Birmingham. He found this work boring and turned to literature, his first volume of poetry being published when he was twenty-one. A founder member of the Pilgrim Players he went on to become the first manager of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. His first full-length play was Rebellion (1914) but his first real success writing for the theatre came in 1918 with Abraham Lincoln. He followed this with Mary Stuart (1921), Oliver Cromwell (1921) and Bird in hand (1927), a popular comedy. He also wrote stories for children and critical studies on William Morris, Algernon Swinburne and Samuel Pepys. In 1911 he married Kathleen Walpole, from whom he would later separate. He married once more, in 1924, to Daisy Kennedy, the ex-wife of Benno Moiseiwitsch. He died at his home, 'North Hall', Mortimer Crescent, Maida Vale, after watching the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. His remains were cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 29 March, and the ashes buried at Piddington on 1 April 1937.

British Poet and Playwright. Born at Leytonstone, Essex, the son of a schoolmaster who turned to acting. He grew up in Oxfordshire and, on leaving school at 15, became an insurance clerk in Nottingham, moving with the company in 1901 to Birmingham. He found this work boring and turned to literature, his first volume of poetry being published when he was twenty-one. A founder member of the Pilgrim Players he went on to become the first manager of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. His first full-length play was Rebellion (1914) but his first real success writing for the theatre came in 1918 with Abraham Lincoln. He followed this with Mary Stuart (1921), Oliver Cromwell (1921) and Bird in hand (1927), a popular comedy. He also wrote stories for children and critical studies on William Morris, Algernon Swinburne and Samuel Pepys. In 1911 he married Kathleen Walpole, from whom he would later separate. He married once more, in 1924, to Daisy Kennedy, the ex-wife of Benno Moiseiwitsch. He died at his home, 'North Hall', Mortimer Crescent, Maida Vale, after watching the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. His remains were cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 29 March, and the ashes buried at Piddington on 1 April 1937.

Bio by: julia&keld