William Stanley Houghton

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(William) Stanley Houghton (February 22, 1881 - December 10, 1913) was a British playwright.

Stanley Houghton, together with Allan Monkhouse and Harold Brighouse, formed what became known as the "Manchester School" of dramatists.

Houghton was born on Tuesday 22 February 1881 at 1 Amy Villas, Doveston Road, Ashton-upon-Mersey in the County of Chester, the only son of John Hartely Houghton and Lucy Mary Houghton (nee Darbyshire).[1] In 1896, the family moved to 2 Athol Road, Alexandra Park, Manchester, some two miles from the City centre. [2] From there Houghton immediately enrolled as a fee paying pupil at The Manchester Grammar School. [3]

On leaving school, Houghton commenced work in his father's cotton-broker office in Meal Street, Manchester, a 9-5 job which continued until mid-1912 when he began to achieve fame.[4]

Houghton and the other local dramatists of his period were given powerful aid by Miss Horniman, who in September 1907 opened the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, as the first English repertory theatre.[5]

For a time, Houghton was Hon. Secretary of the Manchester Athenaeum Dramatic Society, and frequently gave his services as a producer.[6] He gained experience of dramatic criticism as an unpaid supernumerary critic for the Manchester City News in the years 1905 and 1906. Between 1907 and 1912 he was a frequent contributor to the Manchester Guardian for dramatic criticism, book reviewing and special articles.[7]

Houghton's connection with the Gaiety Theatre began with the production there in November 1908 of his one-act play The Dear Departed. His first popular success was The Younger Generation, produced by Miss Horniman in November 1910. With Hindle Wakes (written in the autumn of 1911 and first performed at the Aldwych Theatre in London in June 1912) he leapt into fame. The play had a long run in London, and remains his best known work. Later in the same year The Younger Generation was successfully produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London, with Trust the People the following year at the Garrick and The Perfect Cure at the Apollo.

His early death from meningitis cut short a career of much promise. His plays show the influence of Ibsen with sympathy for women.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Certified copy of an entry of birth, Trafford Registration District. Entry No. 118, 25 March 1881
  2. ^ The Life and Literary Career of W. Stanley Houghton, Mortimer, 1984 (University of Salford PhD Thesis). p9
  3. ^ Manchester Grammar School: a biographical register of Old Macunians 1888-1951, Rawson, 1965. p125
  4. ^ The Works of Stanley Houghton Vol. I (1914). Introduction by Harold Brighouse. p10
  5. ^ Lancashire Literary Worthies, Angus-Butterworth, 1980. p88
  6. ^ Lancashire Literary Worthies, Angus-Butterworth, 1980. p89
  7. ^ Lancashire Literary Worthies, Angus-Butterworth, 1980. p89


[edit] External links

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Persondata
NAME Houghton, William Stanley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION English playwright.
DATE OF BIRTH February 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1913
PLACE OF DEATH Manchester