Jones , Henry Arthur , 1851-1929 , dramatist

Henry Arthur Jones (1851-1929), British dramatist, was born at Grandborough, Buckinghamshire, England. He began working for a draper at the age of twelve, and later earned his living as a commercial traveller. After attending the theatre in London, he was inspired to write one-act plays. His first play to be produced, Its Only Round the Corner, was staged at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, in 1878. His first London production, A Clerical Error, premiered the following year. The Silver King which opened at the Princess Theatre, London, in 1882, established Jones's name as a dramatist. During his long career he wrote numerous plays, among his most successful were The Middleman (1889), The Dancing Girl (1891), The Tempter (1893), The Triumph of the Philistines (1895), Michael and his Lost Angel (1896), The Liars (1897) and The Hypocrites (1906). Jones also wrote numerous books and essays on the function of theatre, such as The renaissance of the English drama, 1883-94 (1895). He died in 1929.