Dane, Clemence (1888–1965)

English novelist and dramatist. Her play A Bill of Divorcement (1921) was highly successful; it was followed by Will Shakespeare (1921); Wild December (1933), about the Brontë family of writers; and Come of Age (1934), about the poet Thomas Chatterton. Her novels include Regiment of Women (1917), Broome Stages (1931), and The Flower Girls (1954).

Born in London, Ashton studied art at the Slade School and in Dresden, Germany, and appeared on the stage 1913–18 under the name Diana Cortis. Her pen-name was taken from the London church of St Clement Danes.