Editing Arthur Wing Pinero (section)

===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>