Housman, Laurence (1865–1959)

English poet and dramatist. He is best known for his Little Plays of St Francis 1922, a collection of playlets each dealing with one episode in the saint's life. Part of another series on Queen Victoria was produced in London 1937 as Victoria Regina and Happy and Glorious followed 1945. He was the brother of A E Housman.

He was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire and studied painting, working first as an illustrator before starting to write fairy tales and poems that he illustrated himself. His book of verse, Green Arras, appeared 1895, but he first attracted attention with the anonymous An Englishwoman's Love Letters 1900. He began writing plays 1905. His Palestine Plays appeared 1943 and Cynthia, a verse pastoral, 1947.