Laurence Housman

Laurence Housman 1865-1959, English author; brother of A. E. Housman. He achieved success as the anonymous author of An Englishwoman's Love Letters (1900). Best known as a dramatist, he wrote Little Plays of St. Francis (1922-35) and Palace Plays (1930-33). His most famous play, Victoria Regina (1934), adapted from his Palace Plays, was banned from the English stage for representing living members of the royal family, but an American production with Helen Hayes in 1935 was highly successful.

Housman, Laurence (1865–1959), brother of A. E. Housman, illustrator, art critic, writer, and dramatist. Among his works were volumes of poems, including Green Arras (1896) and Spikenard (1898); An Englishwoman's Loveletters (1900); and several successful novels, among them Trimblerigg (1924), directed against Lloyd George, and The Duke of Flamborough (1928). His dramatic works include Bethlehem, which was banned in 1902, as were many later plays on religious or royal figures; and Angels and Ministers (1921), consisting of gently mocking scenes laid in the court of Queen Victoria, which were collected with further royal playlets into Victoria Regina (1934). He also published an autobiography, The Unexpected Years (1937), and A. E. Housman (1937), which contained poems, letters, and a valuable Memoir of his brother.