Laurence Housman was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in 1865. The brother of Alfred Edward Housman, he studied art at the Lambeth School of Art and the Royal College of Art.

He worked as a book illustrator and his best known work includes Goblin Market (1893), The Sensitive Plant (1898) and The Blue Moon (1904).

After his eyesight began to fail he turned to writing books and plays, including Angels and Ministers (1921), Little Plays of St. Francis (1922) and Victoria Regina (1937).

A committed socialist and pacifist, in 1907, he joined with Henry Nevinson and Henry Brailsford to form the Men's League for Women's Suffrage. His autobiography, The Unexpected Years, appeared in 1937.

Houseman was a strong supporter of the Peace Pledge Union. In 1945 the organization opened Housmans Bookshop in Shaftesbury Avenue, London, and it became a major source of literature on pacifism.

Laurence Housman, who lived with his sister in Street, Somerset, died on 20th February 1959.

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
Web www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk