[William Stanley]. English playwright, born at Manchester in February 1881, and educated at the Manchester grammar school. He became a cotton-broker, but employed his leisure in dramatic criticism for the Manchester Guardian and in the writing of plays. The Dear Departed was produced by Miss Horniman in Manchester in 1908 and afterwards in London. With Hindle Wakes (1912) he leapt into fame. It had a long run in London and later in the same year The Younger Generation (written and played in Manchester in 1910) was successfully produced at the Haymarket theatre, London, with Trust the People the following year at the Garrick and The Perfect Cure at the Apollo. His early death in Manchester on the 10th of December 1913 cut short a career of much promise.
