Harold Brighouse

Harold Brighouse was born in Eccles, Salford in 1882 (although his RAF service papers say 1880). 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, but in 1908 he became a full-time writer. 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's Gaiety Theatre in Manchester. Many of his plays were one-act pieces; three of the best of these ('The Northerners', 'Zack' 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' which was first produced in England in 1916 at the Apollo Theatre, London, where it ran for 246 performances. 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' dramatic committee. After 1931 he wrote no more full-length plays. His autobiography 'What I Have Had' was published in 1953. In the First World War, Brighouse was declared unfit for combat but joined what later became the Royal Air Force, and was seconded to the Air Ministry Intelligence Staff, where in his spare time he wrote 'Hobson's Choice'. In 1958 he collapsed in the Strand and died the following day.