Harold Brighouse was an English playwright and author whose most famous work is Hobson's Choice. He was a significant member of the Manchester School of Dramatists, which also included Allan Monkhouse and Stanley Houghton. Harold Brighouse was born in Eccles, Lancashire, the eldest child of John Southworth Brighouse, a cotton-spinning manager, and Charlotte Amelia née Harrison, a headmistress. Harold attended a local school before winning a scholarship to Manchester Grammar School. At the age of 17, he dropped out of school and began working as a textile buyer at a shipping merchant's office. In 1902, he traveled to London to open an office for his company. He met Emily Lynes there, and they married in Lillington, Leamington Spa, in 1907. He was promoted at work and moved back to Manchester, but in 1908 he became a full-time writer. Brighouse wrote his first play, Lonesome Like, but The Doorway was the first to be produced. Ben Iden Payne staged this performance, which took place in 1909 at Annie Horniman's Gaiety Theatre in Manchester. Horniman and Payne helped Brighouse in the early phases of his career.
