Editing Arthur Wing Pinero (section)

===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/>