He was a prominent member, together with Allan Monkhouse and Stanley Houghton, of a group known as the Manchester School of dramatists.
He quit school aged 17 and started work as a textile buyer in a shipping merchant's office.
This was performed in 1909 at Annie Horniman's Gaiety Theatre in Manchester and produced by Ben Iden Payne.
The play was made into a movie, directed by David Lean, in 1953, and it was produced at the National Theatre at the Old Vic, London, in 1964.
[2] The Crucible Theatre Sheffield staged a revival in June 2011 directed by Christopher Luscombe and starring Barrie Rutter, Zoe Waites and Philip McGinley.