Harold Brighouse was an English playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 and author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 whose best known play is Hobson's Choice. He was a prominent member, together with Allan Monkhouse

Allan Monkhouse

Allan Noble Monkhouse was an English playwright, critic, essayist and novelist.He was born in Barnard Castle, County Durham. He worked in the cotton trade, in Manchester, and settled in Disley, Cheshire...

 and Stanley Houghton, of a group known as the Manchester School

Manchester School (writers)

The "Manchester School" is a term applied to a number of playwrights from Manchester, England, who were active in the early 20th century. The leading figures in the group were Harold Brighouse, Stanley Houghton and Allan Monkhouse. They were championed by Annie Horniman, owner of the Gaiety...

 of dramatists.

Early life

Harold Brighouse was born in Eccles

Eccles, Greater Manchester

Eccles is a town in the City of Salford, a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, west of Salford and west of Manchester city centre...

, Salford, the eldest child of John Southworth Brighouse, a manager in a cotton-spinning firm, and Charlotte Amelia née Harrison, a headmistress. Harold went to a local school, then won a scholarship

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

 to Manchester Grammar School

Manchester Grammar School

The Manchester Grammar School is the largest independent day school for boys in the UK . It is based in Manchester, England...

. He left school aged 17 and started work as a textile buyer in a shipping merchant's office. In 1902 he went to London to set up an office for his firm. There he met Emily Lynes and married her in Lillington

Lillington, Warwickshire

Lillington is an area of the town of Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, England. Lillington was formerly a village which existed before the time of the Domesday Book , until it was subsumed into Leamington Spa, the parish being incorporated into that borough in 1890.-Geography:Lillington itself has...

, Leamington Spa

Leamington Spa

Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington or Leam to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe...

 in 1907. He was promoted at work and returned to Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 but in 1908 he became a full time writer.

Writing career

The first play written by Brighouse was Lonesome Like, but the first to be produced was The Doorway. This was performed in 1909 at Annie Horniman

Annie Horniman

Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman CH was an English theatre patron and manager. She established the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and founded the first regional repertory theatre company in Britain at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester. She encouraged the work of new writers and playwrights, including...

's Gaiety Theatre

Gaiety Theatre, Manchester

The Gaiety Theatre, Manchester was a theatre in Manchester, England. It was opened in 1884 and demolished in 1959. It replaced a previous Gaiety Theatre on the site which had been destroyed by fire....

 in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 and produced by Ben Iden Payne

Ben Iden Payne

Ben Iden Payne was an English actor, director and teacher. Born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, he was raised and educated in Manchester. He started his career as a walk-on actor in 1899. He served as director of the Abbey Theatre for a short time in 1907 and then returned to Manchester to work with Annie...

. Horniman and Payne gave strong support to Brighouse in the early stages of his career. Many of his plays were one-act pieces; three of the best of these (The Northerners, Zack

Zack (play)

Zack is a 1920 play by British playwright Harold Brighouse. It was one of several of Brighouse's plays performed by the Manchester's Gaiety Theatre....

 and The Game) were published together as Three Lancashire Plays in 1920. All of these plays were set in Lancashire but Brighouse also wrote plays of a different type, such as The Oak Settle and Maid of France. His most successful play was Hobson's Choice

Hobson's Choice

Hobson's Choice is a play by Harold Brighouse, the title coming from the popular expression, Hobson's choice — meaning no choice at all.The first production was at the Princess Theatre in New York. It then transferred to London on June 24, 1916 at the Apollo Theatre, before moving to the Prince of...

, first produced in 1915 in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 where Payne was working. It was first produced in England in 1916 at the Apollo Theatre

Apollo Theatre

The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...

, London, where it ran for 246 performances. The play was made into a film, directed by David Lean

David Lean

Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...

, in 1953, and it was produced at the National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 at the Old Vic

Old Vic

The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...

, London, in 1964. The Crucible Theatre

Crucible Theatre

The Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....

 Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 staged a revival in June 2011 directed by Christopher Luscombe and starring Barrie Rutter

Barrie Rutter

Barrie Rutter is an English actor and the founder and Artistic Director of the Northern Broadsides theatre company based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England....

, Zoe Waites and Philip McGinley

Philip McGinley

Philip McGinley is an English actor, best known for playing the role Tom Kerrigan in Coronation Street.- Biography :...

.

Brighouse also wrote novels, including Hepplestalls, concerning a Lancashire mill-owning family in the 19th century. In addition he wrote many reviews and other pieces for the Manchester Guardian. He was a member of the Dramatists' Club and in 1930–31 was chairman of the Society of Authors

Society of Authors

The Society of Authors is a trade union for professional writers that was founded in 1884 to protect the rights of writers and fight to retain those rights .It has counted amongst its members and presidents numerous notable writers and poets including Tennyson The Society of Authors (UK) is a...

' dramatic committee. After 1931 he wrote no more full-length plays. His autobiography What I Have Had was published in 1953.

Other activities and later life

In the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Brighouse was declared unfit for combat, but joined what later became the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

, and was seconded to the Air Ministry

Air Ministry

The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...

 Intelligence

Military intelligence

Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....

 Staff, where in his spare time he wrote Hobson's Choice. In 1919 he moved to Hampstead

Hampstead

Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...

, London. In 1958 he collapsed in the Strand

Strand, London

Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...

 and died the following day in Charing Cross Hospital

Charing Cross Hospital

Charing Cross Hospital is a general, acute hospital located in London, United Kingdom and established in 1818. It is located several miles to the west of the city centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham....

. His estate

Estate (law)

An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...

 amounted to just under £14,500.

Selected plays

• Lonesome-Like (1911)
• Graft (1913)
• The Game
  The Game (play)
  The Game is a play by Harold Brighouse, first published in 1920 as one of Three Lancashire Plays, the other two plays being The Northerners and Zack....
  
   (1914)
• The Northerners (1914)
• Garside's Career (1915)
• Hobson's Choice (1916)
• Zack
  Zack (play)
  Zack is a 1920 play by British playwright Harold Brighouse. It was one of several of Brighouse's plays performed by the Manchester's Gaiety Theatre....
  
   (1920)
• Once a Hero (1922)
• he Dye-Hard{A Comedy}