Editing Arthur Wing Pinero (section)

==Life and career==
===Early years===
[[File:Pinero's-drawing-of-his-father-1870.png|thumb|upright|alt=sketch of balding white man with side-whiskers, wearing pince-nez and reading a newspaper|John Daniel Pinero, sketched by his son, 1870]]
Pinero was born in London, the only son, and second of three children, of John Daniel Pinero (1798–1871), and his wife Lucy, ''née'' Daines (1836–1905). Pinero's father and grandfather were London [[solicitor]]s. They were descended from the Pinheiro family, described by Pinero's biographer John Dawick as "a distinguished family of Sephardic Jews who rose to prominence in medieval Portugal before suffering the persecutions of the Inquisition". Pinero's branch of the family fled to England. His grandfather abandoned the Jewish faith, became a member of the [[Church of England]], married a Christian Englishwoman, Margaret Wing, and became a highly successful lawyer. His younger son, Pinero's father, also took up the legal profession, but was much less successful; Pinero was brought up in circumstances that were not poor but were not affluent.<ref>Dawick, pp. 6–12</ref> He attended [[Spa Fields]] Chapel [[charity school]] in Exmouth Street, [[Clerkenwell]], London, until the age of ten, when he went to work in his father's office.<ref name=dnb>Wearing, J. P. (2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-35530 "Pinero, Sir Arthur Wing (1855–1934), playwright"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 15 November 2019 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>

John Daniel Pinero died in May 1871, leaving very little money. To contribute to the family income, Pinero continued to work as a solicitor's clerk, earning £1 a week.<ref>Dawick, p. 12</ref> In the evenings he studied elocution at the [[Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution]]. He and his fellow students staged several productions of plays, and Pinero became irresistibly drawn to the theatre. In May 1874 he abandoned the legal profession and joined R. H. Wyndham at the [[Theatre Royal, Edinburgh]], as a "general utility" actor.<ref name=who>Barker, pp. 741–743</ref><ref>"Sir Arthur W. Pinero", ''The Playgoer and Society Illustrated'', February 1911, p. 191</ref> He made his professional debut in the small role of a groom in an adaptation of [[Wilkie Collins]]'s ''[[The Woman in White (novel)|The Woman in White]]''.<ref name=d29>Dawick, p. 29</ref>

===Actor and rising playwright: 1874–1884===
[[File:Henry Irving.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=head and shoulder portrait of clean-shaven white man with longish hair|[[Henry Irving]]: Pinero was a member of his company from 1876 to 1881.]]
As a junior member of Wyndham's company Pinero quickly gained experience in a range of roles, supporting [[E. A. Sothern]] in ''[[Our American Cousin]]'', and [[Charles Mathews]] in the [[Honoré de Balzac|Balzac]] adaptation ''A Game of Speculation'', and graduating to larger parts such as Crosstree in ''[[Black-Eyed Susan]]''.<ref name=d29/> His engagement in Edinburgh came to a sudden end in February 1875 when the theatre was destroyed by fire.<ref name=dnb/> He was fortunate in being offered another provincial engagement, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, [[Liverpool]], where he began to be noticed by the press, gaining approving reviews for his acting in supporting roles.<ref>"Provincial Theatricals", ''The Era'', 7 March 1875, p. 4; and 14 March 1875, p. 5</ref> A production of ''Miss Gwilt'', an adaptation of Wilkie Collins's ''[[Armadale (novel)|Armadale]]'', starring [[Ada Cavendish]], was reported by the theatrical paper ''[[The Era (newspaper)|The Era]]'' as "a genuine triumph";<ref>"Miss Gwilt", ''The Era'', 12 December 1875, p. 4</ref> the play transferred from Liverpool to the [[West End theatre|West End]], and Pinero retained his role as an elderly solicitor.<ref name=dnb/> The production was not the hoped-for success in London, but Pinero received good notices for his performance, and when the run finished after ten weeks he was immediately engaged by [[Henry Irving]]'s manager, Mrs Bateman, as a member of the supporting cast for Irving's forthcoming provincial tour.<ref>Dawick, p.</ref>

Although the tour was uncongenial, and Pinero gathered some highly critical notices, he continued to work as a supporting actor to Irving for five years. He first appeared at the [[Lyceum Theatre, London|Lyceum]], Irving's London base, in December 1876 and played a total of 21 parts there between then and 1881. His Shakespearean roles were Lord Stanley in ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' (1877), Rosencrantz in ''[[Hamlet]]'' (1878), Guildenstern in ''Hamlet'' (1879), Salarino in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' (1879), and Roderigo in ''[[Othello]]'' (1881). In a revival of the melodrama ''[[The Bells (play)|The Bells]]'', with which Irving's name was already synonymous, he played Dr Zimmer (1878).<ref name=who/>

While in Irving's company Pinero wrote his first plays. He began with ''£200 a Year'', a one-act comedy written in a single afternoon for a colleague to present at a benefit performance in 1877. The play was well received and was given several further performances, bringing Pinero's name a modest amount of publicity.<ref>Dawick, pp. 57–58</ref> His first full-length play, ''La Comète'', was staged in a theatre in [[Croydon]] in 1878, and he wrote four more one-act comedies, staged in London in 1878–1880, playing in two of them – ''Daisy's Escape'' and ''Bygones'' – at the Lyceum.<ref name=who/> Another of these, ''Hester's Mystery'' (1880), written for the comic actor [[J. L. Toole]], ran for 300 performances at the [[Toole's Theatre|Folly Theatre]].<ref name=dnb/>

[[File:Myra-Holme-1882.png|thumb|upright|left|Myra Holme, who married Pinero in 1883|alt=portrait of young white woman with dark hair, leaning back in a chair]]
Pinero's profile as a playwright was further raised by ''The Money Spinner'', a full-length comedy, first given at the Prince's Theatre, [[Manchester]] in November 1880 and then at the [[St James's Theatre|St James's]] in London in January 1881. The theatre historian [[J. P. Wearing]] regards the play as of particular importance in the history of the St James's, a theatre previously known more for its failures than its successes. Pinero's play was regarded as daringly unconventional and a risky venture, but it caught on with the public, particularly for the character Baron Croodle, a "disreputable but delightful old reprobate and card-shark" played by [[John Hare (actor)|John Hare]].<ref name=hdnb>Wearing, J. P. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33711 "Hare, Sir John (real name John Joseph Fairs) (1844–1921), actor and theatre manager"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 10 February 2019 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> The following year Pinero wrote the first of eleven more plays for the St James's, ''The Squire'' (1881).<ref name=hdnb/> It caused controversy by its supposed similarity to [[Thomas Hardy]]'s ''[[Far from the Madding Crowd]]''.<ref>Duncan, pp. 193–195</ref>

After leaving Irving's company Pinero joined another well-known London management, [[Squire Bancroft]] and his wife [[Effie Bancroft|Effie]], who ran the [[Haymarket Theatre]]. For them he played the Marquis de Cevennes (''Plot and Passion'', 1881), Sir Alexander Shendryn (''Ours'', 1882), Hanway  (''Odette'', 1882) and finally Sir Anthony Absolute in ''[[The Rivals]]'' (1884) as part of a starry cast that included Squire Bancroft, [[Johnston Forbes-Robertson]], [[Lionel Brough]] and [[Julia Gwynne]]. Pinero received mixed notices, some unfavourable,<ref>"Last Night's Theatricals", ''Reynolds's Newspaper'', 4 May 1884, p. 8; and "Our London Correspondence", ''The Liverpool Mercury'', 5 May 1884, p. 5</ref> and others among the best of his acting career.<ref>"Theatres", ''The Graphic'', 10 May 1884, p. 455; and "The London Theatres", ''The Era'', 10 May 1884, p. 6</ref> This was his last professional engagement as an actor.<ref name=who/>{{refn|Pinero made a single later appearance as an actor, in the role of Dolly Spanker in a special performance of ''[[London Assurance]]'' to mark the retirement of the Bancrofts from management at the Haymarket in July 1885. Other stars appearing in that programme included [[Arthur Cecil]], [[Johnston Forbes-Robertson]], [[John Hare (actor)|John Hare]], [[Henry Irving]], [[David James (actor, born 1839)|David James]], [[Madge Kendal]], [[W. H. Kendal]], [[Lillie Langtry]], [[William Terriss]], [[Ellen Terry]], [[J. L. Toole]], [[Mrs. John Wood|Mrs John Wood]] and [[Charles Wyndham (actor)|Charles Wyndham]], as well as the Bancrofts themselves.<ref>"The Bancroft Farewell", ''The Era'', 25 July 1885, p. 9</ref>|group= n}}

During his time at the Haymarket Pinero married Myra Emily Wood (c. 1852–1919), who had acted under the stage name of Myra Holme, a widow with two children, Angus and Myra, from her first marriage. The wedding took place on 19 April 1883. There were no children of the marriage to Pinero.<ref name=dnb/>

===Farces and drawing-room comedies: 1884–1893===
[[File:Arthur-Cecil-as-Posket-1885.png|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Arthur Cecil]] as Mr Posket in ''[[The Magistrate (play)|The Magistrate]]'', 1885|alt=middle=aged man in Victorian evening dress, much muddied and torn, clutching a chair for support]]
With the exception of two adaptations of serious French works, ''The Ironmaster'' (1884) and ''Mayfair'' (1885),{{refn|The former was adapted from [[Georges Ohnet]]'s ''Le Maître de forges'', and the latter from [[Victorien Sardou]]'s ''Maison neuve''.<ref name=who/>|group= n}} Pinero's output between 1884 and 1893 consisted of six [[farce]]s and five comedies.<ref>Parker, p. 742</ref> During this period he became particularly associated with the [[Royal Court Theatre|Court Theatre]], where five of his farces were presented, with great success at the box office, between 1885 and 1892, beginning with ''[[The Magistrate (play)|The Magistrate]]''. Wearing writes that in these plays Pinero "attacked facets of Victorian society by creating credible though blinkered characters, trying to preserve their respectability while trapped in a relentless whirlpool of catastrophically illogical events".<ref name=dnb/>

Pinero told an interviewer that with the first of his Court farces, ''The Magistrate'', he had tried "to raise farce a little from the low pantomime level". Instead of relying on the Parisian stereotype, revolving around potentially adulterous liaisons, he tried to create believable characters in credible situations.<ref>Dawick, pp. 129–130</ref> The piece played for 363 performances in its first run, the first play in the history of the Court to run for more than a year.<ref>"Court Theatre", ''The Standard'', 22 March 1886, p. 3</ref> When its star, [[Arthur Cecil]], required a summer break, [[Herbert Beerbohm Tree|Beerbohm Tree]] deputised for him for three weeks.<ref>"The Magistrate", ''The Theatre'', May 1892, p. 257</ref> Three touring companies were needed to meet the demand for the play in the British provinces, and local managements in Australia, India and South Africa were licensed to stage it; Pinero travelled to New York for the American premiere, at [[Daly's Theatre (30th St.)|Daly's Theatre]] in October 1885.<ref>"The Drama in America", ''The Era'', 24 October 1885, p. 14; and Dawick, p. 130</ref> He had turned 30 earlier that year. A retrospective review of his career published in 1928 pointed out that Pinero – who had recently celebrated 50 years as a West End playwright – achieved fame at an unusually early age: his contemporaries [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]], [[J. M. Barrie]] and [[John Galsworthy]] were all in their thirties before their plays were produced in London.<ref>Holt, Edgar. "A Dramatist's Jubilee – Arthur Pinero", ''The Fortnightly Review'', March 1928, pp. 323–331</ref>

Pinero's other Court farces – ''[[The Schoolmistress (play)|The Schoolmistress]]'' (1886), ''[[Dandy Dick (play)|Dandy Dick]]'' (1887), ''[[The Cabinet Minister]]'' (1890) and ''[[The Amazons (play)|The Amazons]]'' (1893) – ran for 291, 262, 199 and 114 performances respectively, an aggregate of 866.<ref name=list/>  Their success was outstripped by that of the gentler comedy ''[[Sweet Lavender]]'', which ran at [[Terry's Theatre]] for 684 performances from March 1888 to January 1890.<ref>"Terry's Theatre", ''The Morning Post'', 27 January 1890, p. 2</ref> This piece concerns an impoverished clerk, a bibulous but wise barrister, fraudulent bankers, a long-lost sweetheart and happy endings all round. It was billed as "a domestic drama", and was mainly comic, but, ''The Era'' reported, "there are scenes where the laughter is hushed, where smiles give way to tears, and where mirth is merged in heartfelt sympathy".<ref>"Terry's", ''The Era'', 24 March 1888, p. 14</ref>

===Serious plays===
Plays in a similar vein to ''Sweet Lavender'' – ''The Weaker Sex'' (1888) and ''Lady Bountiful'' (1891) – did not match its success,<ref name=dnb/> running for 61 and 65 performances respectively.<ref name=list/> Nonetheless Pinero's attention continued to turn more to serious than to farcical topics. Wearing comments that Pinero began to write "problem plays", considering "the double standard of morality, applied unequally to men and women". His first was ''The Profligate'' (1889), in which past misdeeds come to haunt a seemingly respectable man. It was chosen to inaugurate the new [[Garrick Theatre]], but the lessee, John Hare, persuaded a reluctant Pinero to tone down the ending to avoid alienating his respectable society audience: in the final version the protagonist does not kill himself, as Pinero had written, but is forgiven by his wife.<ref>Dawick, p. 159</ref> The play ran for 129 performances.<ref name=list/>
[[File:Punch-cartoon-The-Second-Mrs-Tanqueray-1893.png|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=cartoon showing a young woman in Victorian evening dress leaping over a hurdle on which the word "convention" is painted; she is followed by one man in evening dress and watched by another, who is mopping his brow in relief|''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' cartoon showing Pinero's relief as the second Mrs Tanqueray ([[Mrs Patrick Campbell]]) successfully leaps over a hurdle marked "Convention", followed by [[George Alexander (actor)|George Alexander]] as Tanqueray]]
When his next such drama came to be produced Pinero remained firm: the play would, and did, end in tragedy. This was his best-known serious work, ''[[The Second Mrs Tanqueray]]'' (1893). While he was planning it, several plays of [[Henrik Ibsen]] were presented in London for the first time, regarded by much of polite society as ''avant garde'', blunt and shocking.{{refn|Ibsen's ''[[Ghosts (play)|Ghosts]]'', ''[[Rosmersholm]]'', ''[[The Lady from the Sea]]'' and ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'' were all given in London for the first time during 1891 and 1892, mostly at special matinées.<ref name=d169>Dawick, pp. 169 and 173–175</ref>|group= n}} Seeing ''[[Ghosts (play)|Ghosts]]'' led Pinero to reconsider his approach to playwriting, which now seemed old-fashioned by comparison. He was far from uncritical of Ibsen's plays, but recognised that if he was to be a serious dramatist he must treat social problems and human misconduct frankly.<ref name=d169/>

''The Second Mrs Tanqueray'' centred on "a woman with a past". Hare declined to present it, and [[George Alexander (actor)|George Alexander]], the actor-manager running the [[St James's Theatre]], to whom Pinero then offered the play, said, "Sorry, I daren't do it".<ref>Dawick, p. 181</ref> He had second thoughts, and accepted it. The production was scheduled to replace [[Oscar Wilde]]'s ''[[Lady Windermere's Fan]]'', which also focused on a woman with a far from respectable past. Unlike Pinero's play, Wilde's ended happily, and was seen by the respectable habitués of the St James's as mildly shocking but acceptable.<ref>Pearson, p. 74</ref> In Pinero's play Paula Tanqueray kills herself. In Wearing's words, "although not as avant-garde as Ibsen's plays, Tanqueray confronted its fashionable St James's audiences with as forceful a social message as they could stomach".<ref name=dnb/> Both Pinero and Alexander were apprehensive about the public reception of the piece, but it was a sensational success at its opening in May 1893, made a profit of more than £10,000,{{refn|According to the Measuring Worth website this equates to £4,300,000 in 2017 values in terms of average earnings.<ref>[https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/result.php?year_source=1893&amount=10000&year_result=2017 "Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.K. Pound Amount, 1270 to Present"], Measuring Worth. Retrieved 17 February 2019</ref>|group=n}} and was still playing to full houses when Alexander, who disliked acting in long runs, closed the production in April 1894 after 225 performances.<ref>Dawick, p. 200</ref>

Wearing comments that the public's appetite for similar Pinero plays varied. ''[[The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith]]'' (1895) managed a run of 88 performances, ''The Benefit of the Doubt'' (1895) ran for 74, ''The Thunderbolt'' (1908) and ''Mid-Channel'' (1909) both ran for 58.<ref name=list/>

===Fin de siècle===
The year 1898 saw one of Pinero's most enduring successes and his most  conspicuous failure. The first was ''[[Trelawny of the 'Wells'|Trelawny of the "Wells"]]'', the second, ''[[The Beauty Stone]]''. In ''Trelawny of the "Wells"'', described by a 21st-century critic as "Pinero's love letter to theatre",<ref>Spencer, Charles. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/9895675/Trelawny-of-the-Wells-Donmar-Warehouse-review.html "Trelawny of the Wells"], ''The Telegraph'', 22 February 2013</ref> the author addressed his regular topics of class and inexorable change, to which he added a study of the enduring power of the theatre. The play shows a popular actress in mid-Victorian melodramas marrying into the aristocracy, regretting it, returning to the stage and finding that she can no longer make the old style of plays work, successfully switching to works in the new realistic style. Wearing calls the play Pinero's homage to [[Thomas William Robertson|Tom Robertson]], whose pioneering theatrical realism influenced two generations of writers including [[W. S. Gilbert]] and Bernard Shaw as well as Pinero.<ref name=dnb/><ref>Durbach, Errol. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/320589 "Remembering Tom Robertson (1829–1871)"], ''Educational Theatre Journal'', October 1972, pp. 284–288 {{subscription required}}</ref> The critics were confused by the play. Pinero commented that they seemed "divided as to whether the piece is a weak farce or an imperfect realistic drama".<ref>Dawick, p. 240</ref> It had a good, though not outstanding, run of 135 performances at the Court, but subsequently became one of Pinero's most revived plays.<ref name=list/>

At the same time the impresario [[Richard D'Oyly Carte]] was in need of a new opera for his [[Savoy Theatre]] after the end of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s long partnership. It is not clear why Carte chose to commission a libretto from two writers with no experience in the genre, but for [[Arthur Sullivan]]'s ''The Beauty Stone'' he brought together Pinero and [[J. Comyns Carr]], an art critic, gallery owner and part-time author of dramas.<ref>Parry (2013), p. 20</ref>{{refn|Sullivan already knew both men, having previously written a song for Pinero's ''The Profligate'' and incidental music for Carr's medieval drama ''King Arthur'' (1895).<ref>Dawick, p. 158; and Esposito, Anthony (2004). [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-46761 "Carr, Joseph William Comyns (1849–1916), author, gallery director, and theatre manager"]. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'',  Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 February 2019 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>|group= n}} Sullivan, who was used to Gilbert's skill and flexibility, quickly found his new collaborators inept: "gifted and brilliant men, with ''no'' experience in writing for music, and yet obstinately refusing to accept any suggestions from me as to form and construction".<ref>Sullivan, p. 245</ref> He later wrote in his diary, "heartbreaking to have to try to make a musical piece out of such badly constructed (for music) mess of involved sentences".<ref>Sullivan, p, 246</ref> The musical analyst William Parry describes the libretto as "a verbose mess ... suffused with a fussy air of arch medievalism".<ref>Parry (2009), p. 31</ref>  At its premiere, on 28 May 1898, the piece ran for four hours, and Pinero and Carr had to accept some drastic cuts to their words, which also meant sacrificing some of Sullivan's best music.<ref>Parry 2013, p. 24</ref>  The reviews for the music ranged from polite to enthusiastic; for the libretto they ranged from polite to damning. [[Max Beerbohm]], who had succeeded Shaw as theatre critic of ''[[Saturday Review (London newspaper)|The Saturday Review]]'' and who was to become a persistent irritant to Pinero, was particularly waspish.<ref>Beerbohm, Max.[https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/beauty_stone/reviews/sat_rev.html "The Beauty Stone"], ''The Saturday Review'', 4 June 1898; [https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/beauty_stone/reviews/academy.html "The Beauty Stone at the Savoy"], ''The Academy'', 4 June 1898;  [https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/beauty_stone/reviews/observer.html "The Beauty Stone" at the Savoy"] ''The Observer'', 29 May 1898; and [https://www.gsarchive.net/sullivan/beauty_stone/reviews/lute.html "The Beauty Stone"], ''The Lute'', 4 June 1898</ref> Besides the shortcomings of the libretto, the uncomic, romantic style of the piece was not in keeping with the traditions of the Savoy or the expectations of its audience,<ref>Parry (2013), p. 25</ref> and the opera closed on 16 July after 50 performances – the worst run for any of Sullivan's operas.<ref>Rollins and Witts, pp. 1 and 17</ref>

Within a year of the disappointment of ''The Beauty Stone'' Pinero returned to successful form with a four-act play ''[[The Gay Lord Quex (play)|The Gay Lord Quex]]'', a comedy of manners, in succession to two others in the genre, ''The Times'' (1891) and ''The Princess and the Butterfly'' (1897).<ref name=dnb/> ''The Gay Lord Quex'', a story of a determined and resourceful young woman and a reformed aristocratic philanderer,<ref>"The Gay Lord Quex", ''The Times'', 4 April 1923, p.8</ref> had an initial run of 300 performances,<ref>Parker, p. 1204</ref>  and has proved one of Pinero's more revivable plays.{{refn|There have been London revivals in 1902 and 1908, with [[John Hare (actor)|Sir John Hare]] in the title role; 1923, with [[George Grossmith Jr.]];  1943, with [[Frith Banbury]]; and 1975, with [[Daniel Massey (actor)|Daniel Massey]], in a production directed by [[John Gielgud|Sir John Gielgud]].<ref>"Duke of York's Theatre", ''The Times'', 7 May  1902, p.10; "The Gay Lord Quex", ''The Observer'', 3 May 3, 1908, p. 5; "The Gay Lord Quex", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 4 April 1923, p. 8; "Our London Correspondence", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 4 February 1943, p. 4; and Billington, Michael. "The Gay Lord Quex",  ''The Guardian'', 17 June 1975, p. 10</ref>|group= n}}

===20th century===
[[File:His-House-in-Order-1906.jpg|thumb|alt=white man reading a letter, raising a hand and looking horrified, watched by a woman with dark hair and intent facial expression|[[George Alexander (actor)|George Alexander]] and [[Irene Vanbrugh]] in ''His House in Order'', 1906]]
In the first decade of the century Pinero continued to be regarded as among the forefront of British playwrights. His comedy of manners ''Iris'' (1901) ran for 115 performances, and in 1906 he had one of his biggest successes, with ''His House in Order'', another work for Alexander and the St James's. This piece is a drama about a put-upon second wife who eventually triumphs over the domineering family of her husband's dead first wife and wins his undivided love. It was a triumph for [[Irene Vanbrugh]] and Alexander in the lead roles, and for Pinero;<ref>"St. James's Theatre", ''The Times'',  2 February 1906, p. 4</ref> it ran for 430 performances and took more than £78,000 at the box-office. The alliance between Alexander had by now become a firm friendship, punctuated by occasional arguments between the actor-manager and the author, who became extremely prescriptive about the staging of his plays and the delivery of his lines.<ref name=dnb/>

Another of Pinero's friends was Shaw. As authors they held very different views of the nature and purpose of drama. Although both addressed social problems in their plays, Shaw, who held that all good art is didactic, concentrated on the problem itself, whereas Pinero focused more on the people affected by it, which Shaw felt weakened the argument.<ref>Griffin, p. 14</ref> Nevertheless, they were on good terms and both were prominent in campaigns for a national theatre and the reform or abolition of theatre censorship. Shaw conceived the idea that playwrights needed a titled figure to lead their campaigns, and lobbied the British government to secure a [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]] for Pinero. Whether because of Shaw's canvassing or not is unknown, but Pinero was knighted in 1909, only the second dramatist to receive the honour (Gilbert having been knighted two years earlier). Pinero rarely used the title, but shortened his signature from "Arthur W. Pinero" to "Arthur Pinero".<ref>Dawick, pp. 303–307</ref>

[[File:Arthur Wing Pinero.jpg|upright|thumb|Pinero aged about 55|left|alt=Right profile of white man with bald head except for a small amount of dark hair at the back and sides, clean shaven, with bushy eyebrows]]
In the second decade of the century Pinero had his last two real successes. The comedy ''[[The "Mind the Paint" Girl]]'' ran at the [[Duke of York's Theatre]] for 126 performances in 1912, and ''The Big Drum'', his last play for Alexander had 111 performances at the St James's in 1915.<ref name=list/> The [[First World War]] badly affected his wish and ability to write. He had suffered an emotional blow in 1913 when his stepson killed himself, and the outbreak of war the following year appalled Pinero. Following the sinking of {{RMS|Lusitania}} by a German [[U-boat]] on 7 May 1915, he wrote to ''[[The Times]]'' calling on [[naturalization#United Kingdom|naturalised]] British citizens of German origin to make public statements of their loyalty to the King and reject Germany's methods of warfare.<ref>Pinero, Arthur. "Where Protest is Due", ''The Times'', 11 May 1915, p. 9</ref> In the following days, numerous letters were received by the newspaper from naturalised Britons affirming their loyalty, including public figures such as [[Ernest Cassel|Sir Ernest Cassel]], [[George Henschel|Sir George Henschel]], [[Sir Carl Meyer 1st Baronet|Sir Carl Meyer]] and [[Felix Schuster|Sir Felix Schuster]].<ref>Meyer, Carl. "Barbaric Warfare" ''The Times'', 12 May 1915, p. 9; Schuster, Felix. "Barbaric Warfare", The Times, 13 May  1915, p. 9; Henschel, George. "Naturalized Citizens", ''The Times'', 15 May, p. 10; Cassel, Ernest. "Sir E Cassel's Declaration", ''The Times'' 20 May 1915, p. 9</ref> Among others who came under public pressure because of the war was Shaw, who opposed it strenuously, and was much vilified by the public and even by his colleagues. Pinero refused to join in the chorus of disapproval, and his friendship with Shaw endured, although they saw less of each other after Shaw resigned from the Dramatists' Club under pressure from its pro-war members led by [[Henry Arthur Jones]].<ref>Dawick, pp. 342–343</ref>

Pinero's wife died in 1919, having been an invalid for some time. Although her death was foreseen it caused Pinero deep distress, and after it he was often despondent, despite the devoted attention of his stepdaughter.<ref name=dnb/> During the last years of his life Pinero gradually ceased to be a figure of importance in the theatre. After the end of the war he wrote eight more plays; two of them remained unstaged and of the four that were produced in London the longest-running lasted for 64 performances.<ref name=list/>

His heart weakened by a serious bout of influenza, Pinero failed to survive an operation for a [[hernia]].  He died on 23 November 1934 in Marylebone Nursing Home.<ref>"Deaths", ''The Times'', 26 November 1934, p. 1</ref> A memorial service was held at [[St Marylebone Parish Church]] on 28 November 1934,<ref>"Memorial Service: Sir Arthur Pinero", ''The Times'', 30 November 1934, p. 21</ref> after which, by Pinero's request, his ashes were buried in his wife's grave in the churchyard of [[Chiddingfold]], Surrey, close to their former country house.<ref name=dnb/>