John Drinkwater (1888-1937) was born in Leytonstone, the son of an actor.
He was sent at one time to live with his grandfather in Oxford, and attended the City of Oxford School until he was 15 years old, when he began working for an insurance company in 1903. Remaining in the insurance business, Drinkwater moved to Birmingham, and it was there that he published his first volume, Poems (1903).
In 1907 Drinkwater founded the Pilgrim Players, which later became the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, of which he was Manager, and he maintained his connection with the theatre until 1920.
In 1909 he left the insurance business to devote himself to writing. A prolific writer, Drinkwater had published 24 volumes of poetry and 19 plays before his death. His most successful plays include the chronicle Abraham Lincoln (1918) and other plays in similar vein like Mary Stuart and Oliver Cromwell, and the comedy Bird in Hand (1928). He was also the author of numerous biographies, two volumes of autobiography, and many works of criticism.
Drinkwater was one of the “Dymock Poets”, centred around the Gloucestershire village of that name. These included Robert Frost, Edward Thomas, Lascelles Abercrombie, Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Gibson. There is a Society called the “Friends of the Dymock Poets” and details are to be found on the internet.