Historical Figures Codexery

George Bernard Shaw

Irish playwright and critic who reshaped modern drama.

The young Shaw read avidly from books given by Lee's students and gained thorough musical knowledge of choral and operatic works.[1] He attended four schools between 1865 and 1871, all of which he hated, and left school in October 1871 to become a junior clerk in a Dublin land agency.[2] Shaw began attending meetings of the Zetetical Society in 1880, where he met Sidney Webb, beginning a lifelong friendship.[3][4] He became a member of the Fabian Society in September 1884 and provided its first manifesto before the year's end.[5]

Shaw's first play to bring him financial success was Arms and the Man in 1894, which earned him £341 in royalties in its first year.[6] During the first decade of the twentieth century, Shaw secured a firm reputation as a playwright, with fourteen of his plays staged by Vedrenne and Granville-Barker at the Royal Court Theatre.[7] After traveling to England in March for his sister Agnes's funeral, Shaw never made Ireland his home again.[8]

Quick Facts

Born
26 July 1856
Birthplace
Portobello, Dublin, Ireland
Died
2 November 1950
Place of death
Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England
Resting place
Shaw's Corner, Ayot St Lawrence
Pen name
Bernard Shaw
Occupation
Writer, political activist
Citizenship
United Kingdom (1856–1950); Ireland (dual citizenship, 1934–1950)

Facts from the source article.

What the cited sources add

Biographer Michael Holroyd suggests Bessie Shaw's marriage was a means to flee a domineering great-aunt.[9] Robert Anderson, writing in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, asserts that Shaw's music criticism "stand alone in their mastery of English and compulsive readability".[10] The Lord Chamberlain banned Blanco Posnet for religious reasons; its Dublin production at the Abbey Theatre played to a full house.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holroyd 1997, p. 2; Holroyd 1997, p. 2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holroyd 1997, p. 2; Shaw 1949, p. 89–90; Weintraub 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bevir 2011, p. 155 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holroyd 1990, p. 27–28 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cole 1961, p. 7–8; Cole 1961, p. 7–8; Fabian Tracts: 1884–1901; Cole 1961, p. 7–8 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Weintraub 2013; Holroyd 1997, p. 2; Holroyd 1997, p. 2; Peters 1998, p. 138 and 210 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holroyd 1997, p. 2; Weintraub 2013; Merriman 2010, p. 219–220 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ervine 1959 DNB archive (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holroyd 1997, p. 2; Ervine 1959 DNB archive; Shaw 1969, p. 22; Holroyd 1997, p. 2; Shaw 1969, p. 22 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shaw and Laurence (Vol 3) 1981, p. 767 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "George Bernard Shaw" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Laurence 1955, p. 8; Gaye 1967, p. 1531 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article George Bernard Shaw (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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