Editing John Drinkwater (playwright)

{{short description|British writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = John Drinkwater
| image              = File:John Drinkwater in 1919.jpg
| caption            = John Drinkwater in 1919.
| nationality        = British
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1882|6|1|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Leytonstone]], [[Essex]], England
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1937|3|25|1882|6|1|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[London]], England
| spouse             = Cathleen Orford (née Kathleen Walpole)<br>[[Daisy Kennedy]]
| children           = 1
}}
'''John Drinkwater''' (1 June 1882 – 25 March 1937) was an English [[poet]] and [[dramatist]]. He was known before [[World War I]] as one of the [[Dymock poets]], and his poetry was included in all five volumes of ''[[Georgian Poetry]]'' (edited by [[Edward Marsh (polymath)|Edward Marsh]], 1912–1922). After World War I, he achieved fame as a playwright and became closely associated with [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]].<ref name=ondb>Eric Salmon. 'Drinkwater, John', in ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (2004, revised 2007)</ref>

== Life and career ==
John Drinkwater was born in [[Leytonstone]], [[Essex]] (now [[Greater London]]), to actor/author Albert Edwin Drinkwater (1851–1923) and Annie Beck (''née'' Brown), and worked as an insurance clerk. In the period immediately before the [[World War I|First World War]], he was one of the [[Dymock poets|group of poets]] associated with the [[Gloucestershire]] village of [[Dymock]], along with [[Rupert Brooke]], [[Lascelles Abercrombie]], [[Wilfrid Wilson Gibson]] and others.<ref name=ondb/>

In 1918, he had his first major success with his play ''[[Abraham Lincoln (play)|Abraham Lincoln]]''. He followed it with others in a similar vein, including ''Mary Stuart''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yGHr8Pd5odcC | title=Mary Stuart: A Play | last1=Drinkwater | first1=John | date=1921 |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson}}</ref> and ''Oliver Cromwell''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTDzwmfOpqAC | title=Oliver Cromwell: A Play | last1=Drinkwater | first1=John | date=1921 |publisher=Houghton Miflin Company}}</ref> In 1927, the [[George H. Doran Company]] published Drinkwater's book ''Oliver Cromwell: A Character Study''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDw2AAAAMAAJ | title=Oliver Cromwell: A Character Study | last1=Drinkwater | first1=John | date=1927 |publisher=George H. Doran Company}}</ref>

He had published poetry since ''The Death of Leander'' in 1906; the first volume of his ''Collected Poems'' was published in 1923. He did also compile anthologies and wrote literary criticism (e.g. ''Swinburne: an estimate'' (1913)), and later became manager of [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]].

He married concert violinist [[Daisy Kennedy]], the ex-wife of [[Benno Moiseiwitsch]], in December 1924.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1924/12/17/archives/john-drinkwater-weds-english-dramatist-divorced-marries-miss-daisy.html 'John Drinkwater Weds; English Dramatist, Divorced, Marries Miss Daisy Kennedy, Violinist'], in ''The New York Times'', 17 December 1924</ref> Their daughter, Penny Drinkwater, went on to become a wine writer and member of the circle of wine writers.

John Drinkwater made recordings in [[Columbia Records]]' International Educational Society Lecture series. They include Lecture 10 – a lecture on ''The Speaking of Verse'' (four 78 rpm sides, Cat no. D 40018-40019), and Lecture 70 ''John Drinkwater reading his own poems'' (four 78 rpm sides, Cat no. D 40140-40141).<ref>''Catalogue of Columbia Records, Up to and including Supplement no. 252'' (Columbia Graphophone Company, London, September 1933), pp. 371, 374.</ref>

== Death and commemoration ==
[[File:Piddington StNicholas GravestoneDrinkwater.JPG|thumb|John Drinkwater's grave at [[Piddington, Oxfordshire]].]]
John Drinkwater died in London in 1937 at the age of 54.<ref name="Magill1985">{{cite book|author=Frank Northen Magill|title=Critical Survey of Drama: Authors A–Z|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JK85AAAAMAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Salem Press|isbn=978-0-89356-377-6|page=506}}</ref> He is buried at [[Piddington, Oxfordshire]], where he had spent summer holidays as a child.

A road in Leytonstone, formerly a 1960s [[council estate]], is named after John Drinkwater, as is a small development of modern houses in Piddington.

== Archives ==
Papers of John Drinkwater are held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.<ref>{{Cite web|title=UoB Calmview5: Search results|url=https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XJD|access-date=2021-01-28|website=calmview.bham.ac.uk}}</ref> This includes a collection of photographs and photograph albums relating to Drinkwater.<ref>{{Cite web|title=UoB Calmview5: Search results|url=https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XMS235|access-date=2021-03-10|website=calmview.bham.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=UoB Calmview5: Search results|url=https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XMS234|access-date=2021-03-10|website=calmview.bham.ac.uk}}</ref> There are also some Drinkwater papers in the [[Ashley Library]] in the [[British Library]] and in [[Vestry House Museum]] in [[Walthamstow]], as well as a large amount of correspondence held at [[Yale University]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Drinkwater Collection|url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/resources/628|access-date=2022-11-21|website=Archives at Yale}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Portal|Poetry|Biography}}
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|Author:John Drinkwater|John Drinkwater}}
{{Commons category|John Drinkwater}}
*[http://www.johndrinkwater.org/ John Drinkwater memorial site]
*[http://sca.glos.ac.uk/ Special Collections and Archives Catalogue] University of Gloucestershire Archives and Special Collections
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Drinkwater,+John | name=John Drinkwater}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Drinkwater |birth=1882 |death=1937}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2560}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051210035643/http://lenbernstein.com/Pages/EgoJustice.html Discussion of John Drinkwater's play ''Abraham Lincoln'']
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* Archival material at {{wikidata|qualifier|property|P485|Q24568958|P856|format=\[%q %p\]}}
*[https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/db/person/300/ Plays by John Drinkwater] at [https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk Great War Theatre]
*[[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.drinkwat|John Drinkwater Collection]]. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drinkwater, John}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1937 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at the City of Oxford High School for Boys]]
[[Category:People from Leytonstone]]
[[Category:English male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century English poets]]
[[Category:20th-century English dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]