Laurence Housman (1865–1959) was an English playwright, writer, and illustrator. He reached his most comprehensive public with a series of plays about the Victorian era, of which the most successful was Victoria Regina (1934.) Housman was a younger brother of the scholar and poet A.E. Housman.
Born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, Housman studied art at Lambeth and South Kensington and attracted attention by his illustrations of George Meredith’s poem ‘Jump-to-Glory Jane’ and Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market and Other Poems.
Housman is best known for his Little Plays of St Francis (1922,) and his Victorian biographical ‘chamber plays,’ notably Angels and Ministers (1921) and Victoria Regina (1937.) His novels included Trimblerigg (1924,) a satire on Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and he published books of verse, including An Englishwoman’s Love-Letters (1900; published anonymously.)
Housman’s autobiography, The Unexpected Years (1937,) reveals a conservative radical who espoused socialism, pacificism, and women’s suffrage.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Laurence Housman
If Nature had arranged that husbands and wives should have children alternately, there would never be more than three in a family.
—Laurence Housman
Topics: Pregnancy
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