page_title: Laurence Housman
section_title: Writing
hierarchical_section_title: Laurence Housman / Writing
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Laurence Housman (1865-1959) Pencil, or lithographic crayon on prepared paper (joined). Provenance: By family descent to the artist’s grand-daughter and the Sale of her Rothenstein Collection, Sothebys, 26.2.2003. 6.5x6.5 inches circular. Framed: 14.25x13.25 inches. Offered for sale by Abbott &amp; holder circa April 2019
context_page_description: Laurence Housman was an English playwright, writer and illustrator.
context_section_description: Housman turned more and more to writing after his eyesight began to fail. 
  His 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 were scandalous for depicting biblical characters and living members of the Royal House on stage, and many of them were performed only 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, the practice of which was then illegal.
  After his brother's A.E.'s death in 1936, Laurence was made literary executor, and over the next two years brought out further selections of poems from his brother's manuscripts. His editorial work has been deprecated recently: "The text of many poems was misrepresented: poems not completed by Housman were printed as though complete; versions he cancelled were reinstated; separate texts were conflated; and many poems were mistranscribed from the manuscripts."
caption: Undated portrait by William Rothenstein (1872-1945)
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