William Stanley Houghton

William Stanley Houghton 1881-1913, English dramatist. He was (1907-12) a critic for the Manchester Guardian. His plays, greatly influenced by Ibsen, include The Dear Departed (1908), The Younger Generation (1910), and his best work, Hindle Wakes (1912). He was one of the best of a group of realistic playwrights often called the Manchester school.

Houghton, (William) Stanley (1881–1913), playwright and drama critic, born in Manchester, where he worked in the cotton trade while pursuing his passion for the theatre. The Dear Departed (1908) was performed by Miss Horniman's Repertory Theatre. His other plays, Independent Means (1909), The Younger Generation (1910), Master of the House (1910), and Fancy-Free (1911), led up to the enduringly successful Hindle Wakes (1912), a satiric comedy which mocks the small-minded people in the Lancastrian manufacturing town of Hindle, and their deep attachment to property and propriety. Most of Houghton's plays centre, with sympathy and insight, on problems of homely Lancashire life, and are strongly influenced by Ibsen. (See also Manchester School.)

Houghton, (William) Stanley (1881–1913), English playwright, one of the best of the so-called ‘Manchester School’ (see MANCHESTER) and much influenced by Ibsen. His plays, dealing with the revolt against parental authority and the struggle between the generations, were first seen at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester under Miss Horniman. They include The Dear Departed (1908) and The Younger Generation (1910), both of which later proved popular with amateur and repertory companies. His best known play Hindle Wakes (1912) was, however, first seen in London, played by actors from the Gaiety, Manchester, and directed by Lewis Casson, their resident producer. It was an immediate success, though its plot, in which Fanny Hawthorn, a working girl, refuses to marry the cowardly, vacillating rich man's son who has seduced her, portrayed a reversal which took contemporary playgoers by surprise and caused a good deal of controversy. Houghton subsequently had time to write only a couple of one-act plays before his untimely death.