Person Open DS/UK/2216 Housman; Laurence (18 July 1865-20 February 1959); English playwright, writer and illustrator Housman Laurence 18 July 1865-20 February 1959 English playwright, writer and illustrator Male Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England (born)

English Author; Playwright / Illustrator Activist; Suffrage / LGBTQIA+ White Sibling of A. E. Housman (poet) and Clemence Housman (author and women's suffrage activist) Gay / Lesbian Activism and Views: Housman has contributed himself as a feminist, dedicating his work mainly to the Suffrage movement in England. His activism was mainly creating works of art such as: creating banners, creating propaganda, writings and contributing to women's newspapers. Housman and his sister, Clemence founded the Suffrage Atelier in 1909. This was a studio that produced artistic propaganda for the suffrage movement. The studio was located at his house, No. 1 Pembroke Cottage Kensington. This studio was important not only in creating propaganda for the suffrage movement but also, the creation of banners required collective work. This was significant as it created an environment for women to find other women. Additionally, work such as embroidery, which was known to be domestic, was utilized to propel a political movement and allowed women to earn money. Housman also opened his house to the suffrage movement and it quickly became a hub for the feminist movement. Aside from his artistic contributions, he also participated in physical protests. He frequently spoke in suffrage rallies. Similar to his writing style, he spoke artistically. For example, he read “Tommy this Tommy that” by Rudyard Kipling to be “Women this Women that”. He also took part in handing in a petition against force feeding, and was arrested during associated disturbances. Family, Sexuality and Relationships: Housman was openly homosexual and invested himself to help other homosexuals to be less stigmatized by society. To do so, he joined an organization called the Order of Chaeronea which was a secret society that worked to gain homosexuals social recognition. Additionally, he was a founder of the British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology. This was an organization which aimed to advance sex reform hoping for a more open society regarding sexualities by breaking prejudices. Housman brought his artistic contributions to the fight of de-stigmatizing homosexuality, creating pamphlets for the organization such as The Relation of Fellow-Feeling to Sex. Awards and Honours: His name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, unveiled in 2018. Laurence Housman was an English playwright, writer and illustrator during the Victorian era. Housman first worked with London publishers by illustrating such works as George Meredith's Jump to Glory Jane (1892), Jonas Lie's Weird Tales (1892), Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market (1893), Jane Barlow's The End of Elfintown (1894) and his sister's novella The Were-Wolf (1896) in an intricate Art Nouveau style. During this period, he also wrote and published several volumes of poetry and a number of hymns and carols. Housman turned more and more to writing after his eyesight began to fail. His first literary success came with the novel An Englishwoman's Love-letters (1900), published anonymously. He then turned to drama with Bethlehem (1902) and was to become best known and remembered as a playwright. Some of Housman's plays were scandalous for depicting biblical characters and living members of the Royal House on stage, and many of them were performed only privately until the subsequent relaxation of theatrical censorship. In 1937 the Lord Chamberlain ruled that no British sovereign may be portrayed on the stage until 100 years after his or her accession. For this reason, Victoria Regina could not be staged until the centenary of Queen Victoria's accession, 20 June 1937. A prolific writer with around a hundred published works to his name, his output eventually covered all kinds of literature from socialist and pacifist pamphlets to children's stories. He wrote an autobiography, The Unexpected Years (1937), which, despite his record of controversial writing, said little about his homosexuality, the practice of which was then illegal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Housman (2021) International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes RAHSkeyte 10/4/2012 Rachael.Fragola 3/1/2022 39ebd2b6-1aee-48d0-82c1-8ec7ec559e26