Allan Monkhouse, dramatist, critic, and novelist, belonged to the Manchester School of dramatists. He wrote some twenty plays, only a few of which were successful. However, his plays are excellent reading, and as the speeches have enough wit to carry them without any great demands on actors, his works have been frequently performed in amateur productions and by repertory companies on both sides of the Atlantic.

Born at Barnard Castle, Durham, Monkhouse was the son of John W.S. and Mary Brown Monkhouse. After being educated at private schools, he went into the Manchester cotton trade. While still "in trade," in 1893, he married Lucy Dowie, who died the next year. In 1902 he married Elizabeth Dorothy Pearson, with whom he had two sons and two daughters. In the year of his second marriage he left the cotton business to join the editorial staff of the Manchester Guardian, where he...