author
Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence
1837–1914
A British lawyer, politician, and energetic literary controversialist, he is best remembered for championing the idea that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare’s plays. His writing offers a lively window into one of the most famous authorship debates of the early 20th century.
2 Audiobooks
The Shakespeare Myth
by Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence
Bacon is Shake-Speare Together with a Reprint of Bacon's Promus of Formularies and Elegancies
by Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence
About the author
Born on 2 February 1837, Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence was a British barrister and politician who later became the 1st Baronet Durning-Lawrence. He served as Member of Parliament for Truro from 1895 to 1906 and was associated with Liberal Unionist politics.
He is most closely linked with the Baconian theory of Shakespeare authorship, the argument that Francis Bacon, not William Shakespeare of Stratford, wrote the plays and poems usually attributed to Shakespeare. Durning-Lawrence promoted this view with unusual energy and published books on the subject, including Bacon is Shake-speare in 1910.
He died on 21 April 1914, but his name still turns up wherever the Shakespeare authorship question is discussed. For listeners today, his work is interesting not just for its claims, but as a vivid example of how strongly readers and scholars once argued over literature, history, and fame.