British novelist, born at Rusholme, nr. Manchester, on the 17th of April 1876, and educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh, and St. John’s College, Cambridge. At the outbreak of the World War he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 10th Service Batt., was mentioned in despatches and decorated with the M.C. He published amongst other novels Pip (1907) and A Man’s Man (1909); but he is best known as the author of The First Hundred Thousand (1915), a humorous sketch of military life in the early days of recruiting, and its sequel The Last Million (1918). In 1917 he published Carrying On, and in 1919 his novel Happy Go Lucky (1913) was dramatized as Tilly of Bloomsbury and produced by Arthur Bourchier at the Apollo theatre, London. A Safety Match (1911) was also dramatized and produced by Arthur Bourchier at the Strand theatre in January 1921. See also The Right Stuff.
