Laurence Housman

Laurence Housman (18 July 1865 - 20 February 1959) was an English poet, playwright, prose writer, and illustrator.

Youth
Laurence Housman was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, to a family of seven children that included the poet A.E. Housman and the writer Clemence Housman. In 1871 his mother died, and his father remarried, to a cousin.

After education at Bromsgrove School, he went with his sister Clemence to study art at the Lambeth School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London.

Illustrating
He first worked as a book illustrator with London publishers, illustrating such works as George Meredith's Jump to Glory Jane (1892), Jonas Lie's Weird Tales (1892), Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market (1893), Jane Barlow's The End of Elfintown (1894) and his sister's Werewolf (1896) in an intricate Art Nouveau style. During this period, he also wrote and published several volumes of poetry and a number of hymns and carols.

Writing
When his eyesight began to fail, he turned more and more to writing. Housman's first literary success came with the novel An Englishwoman's Love-letters (1900), published anonymously. He then turned to drama with Bethlehem (1902) and was to become best known and remembered as a playwright. His other dramatic works include Angels and Ministers (1921), Little Plays of St. Francis (1922) and Victoria Regina (1934) which was even staged on Broadway. Housman's play, Pains and Penalties, about Queen Caroline, was produced by Edith Craig and the Pioneer Players.

Some of Housman's plays caused scandals because of depiction of biblical characters and living members of the Royal House on stage, and many of them were only played privately until the subsequent relaxation of theatrical censorship. In 1937 the Lord Chamberlain ruled that no British sovereign may be portrayed on the stage until 100 years after his or her accession. For this reason, Victoria Regina could not be staged until the centenary of Queen Victoria's accession, 20 June 1937. This was a Sunday, so the premiere took place the next day.

Housman also wrote children's fairy tales such as A Farm in Fairyland (1894) and fantasy stories with Christian undertones for adults, such as All-Fellows (1896), The Cloak of Friendship (1905), and Gods and Their Makers (1897).

A prolific writer with around a hundred published works to his name, his output eventually covered all kinds of literature from socialist and pacifist pamphlets to children's stories. He wrote an autobiography, The Unexpected Years (1937), which, despite his record of controversial writing, said little about his homosexuality. He also edited his brother's posthumous poems.

Activism
Housman held what for the time were controversial political views. He was a committed socialist and pacifist and founded the Men's League for Women's Suffrage with Henry Nevinson and Henry Brailsford in 1907. He was also a member of the British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology and the Order of Chaeronea.

In 1909, Laurence, with his sister Clemence founded the Suffrage Atelier, an arts and crafts society who worked closely with the Women's Social and Political Union and Women's Freedom League. They encouraged non-professional artists to submit work, and paid them a small percentage of the profits.

Housmans Bookshop
In 1945 he opened Housmans Bookshop in Shaftesbury Avenue, London, founded in his honour by the Peace Pledge Union, of which he was a sponsor. In 1959, shortly after his death, the shop moved to 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, where it is still a prime source of literature on pacifism and other radical approaches to living.

Later life
Housman lived his last 35 years with his sister in Street, Somerset.

Publications
Except as noted, this bibliographic detail is taken from The Golden Sovereign published by Jonathan Cape in 1937 in the UK.


 * Victoria Regina (Play)
 * Little Plays of St.Francis
 * Prunella (Play, with Harley Granville-Barker)
 * Angels and Ministers (Play)
 * Echo De Paris (Play)
 * The Chinese Lantern (Play)
 * Ye fearful Saints (Play)
 * Cornered Poets (Play)
 * Palace Scenes (Play)
 * Pains and Penalties (Play)
 * Trimblerigg (Satire)
 * Life of HRH The Duke of Flamborough (Satire)
 * The New Child's Guide to Knowledge (Verse)
 * Moonshine and Clover (Fairy Story)
 * A Doorway in Fairyland (Fairy Story)
 * Turn Again Tales (Fairy Stories)
 * What O'Clock Tales (Fairy Stories)
 * Gods and Their Makers (Novel and Story)
 * All-fellows and the Cloak of Friendship (Novel and Story)
 * The Sheepfold (Novel and Story)
 * King John of Jungalo (Fiction)
 * The Love Concealed (Poem)
 * Green Arras (Poetry)
 * The Unexpected Years (Autobiography)
 * The Golden Sovereign (Fiction)
 * Stories from the Arabian nights (Retelling)
 * A Thing to be Explained (Fairy Story)
 * Edward FitzGerald, preface
 * Arthur Boyd Houghton (Collection of art by Arthur Boyd Houghton)