User:Ikeshut2/sandbox6
Roy Horniman | |
|---|---|
 Photographic portrait of Roy Horniman (about 1922). | |
| Born | 1 January 1872 Southsea |
| Died | 1 January 1930 (aged 58) |
| Occupation | actor, writer |
Roy Horniman (1872–1930) was a British writer, best known for his novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal, which inspired several adaptations, in particular the musical comedy A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.[1]
Biography
[edit]Early years
[edit]Roy Horniman was born in 1872 at Southsea, near Portsmouth in Hampshire, the son of William Horniman and an aristocratic Greek mother. His father was an English naval officer and paymaster-in-Chief of the British Royal Navy. Roy spent his early life in various countries and at sea. He was educated abroad and at Southsea Grammar School.[2][3]
When he was aged thirteen, Horniman wrote a novel which was confiscated by his mother.[3] By the time he was fifteen Horniman began acting on the stage.[4]
The stage
[edit]After he left school Horniman briefly worked in an office, but soon afterwards embarked on an acting career.[3] He played many leading roles in West End theatres.[3][4] He rented and managed the Criterion Theatre.[4]
Horniman published many successful novels and contributed fiction to popular magazines. He also wrote and produced successful plays.[4] He was the joint-proprietor of The Ladies' Review for some years.[3] He wrote many plays as well as adaptations of his own and others' novels.
Horniman was the founder and part-owner of 'Broadlands' in Hampshire, the first 'nature-cure' establishment in England.[4][3]
Horniman was devoted to various causes, including anti-vivisection.[2] He was the chairman of Our Dumb Friends League and the Committee for the Suppression of Cruelty to Performing Animals.[4]
In 1907 Horniman was described as "a vegetarian, a nature curist, a Theosophist [and] a public singer".[3]
Horniman was a member of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress.[4]
A play written by Horniman called Billy's Fortune opened at the Criterion Theatre in January 1913.[5]
During World War I Horniman was chairman of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Tobacco Fund.[4] Roy Horniman served in the Artists Rifles during the First World War.
Horniman was one of the pioneers of the Gattie Transport Scheme and a director of the New Transport Co. Ltd.[4]
Horniman was described by a contemporary as "a well-to-do bachelor who knew what did and what did not suit him, marriage being in the latter category, the social round in the former".[2]
Horniman also wrote The Sin of Atlantis in 1900 and Lord Cammarleigh’s Secret: A Fairy Story of To-Day in 1907.[6]
In August 1921 the play The Edge O'Beyond, adapted by Horniman and Ruby Miller from a novel by Gertrude Page, opened at the Garrick Theatre.[7]
In his later years Horniman wrote and adapted for the screen.
Horniman died in London in 1930.[2]
Legacy
[edit]Amongst his notable works were Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal (1907), which was republished by Faber Finds in 2008 and again by Cavalier Classics in 2014, and by Dean Street Press in 2020. The 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets was based on Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal and the novel also inspired the 2013 Broadway musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.
Publications
[edit]- The Sin of Atlantis (1900)
- The Living Buddha
- That Fast Miss Blount
- Bellamy the Magnificent
- Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal (1907), London: Chatto & Windus.
- Lord Cammarleigh's Secret: A Fairy Story of To-Day (1907), London: Chatto & Windus.
- Roy Horniman & Rowland George Allanson-Winn Headley (1916), 'How to Make the Railways Pay for the War: Or, The Transport Problem Solved, Routledge.
References
[edit]- ^ "Rank Outsider". Portsmouth Grammar School Magazine: 21–23.
- ^ a b c d Papers of Roy Horniman, Archives Hub website, Jisc; accessed 22 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g The Many-sided Mr. Horniman, The Book News Monthly, Vol. 26 Issue 3, November 1907, page 215.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Roy Horniman, Notable Londoners, an Illustrated Who's Who of Professional and Business Men (1922), London: London Publishing Agency, page 174; accessed 22 November 2024.
- ^ 'The Playhouses', The Illustrated London News, 25 January 1913, page 110.
- ^ "Review of Lord Cammarleigh's Secret by Roy Horniman". The Athenaeum (4175): 546–547. 2 November 1907.
- ^ 'The Playhouses', The Illustrated London News, 20 August 1921, page 264.
External links
[edit]- Error in Template:Internet Archive author: Ikeshut2/sandbox6 doesn't exist.
- No openlibrary ID.
- "Roy Horniman", Finds, UK: Faber, archived from the original on 24 July 2009
- Roy Horniman at Library of Congress, with 4 library catalogue records
- Works by Roy Horniman at Project Gutenberg