CAINE, SIR (THOMAS HENRY) HALL, an English novelist and drama tist; born in Runcorn, Cheshire, Eng., May 14, 1853; began his career as an architect in Liverpool. Contributions to the "Builder" and the "Building News" resulted in his becoming connected with journalism, and eventually he joined the staff of the "Liverpool Mercury," and wrote in the "Academy" and the "Ath enzeum." He resided with Dante Ros setti in London till the poet's death. Among his non-fictional publications are: "Sonnets of Three Centuries"; "Recollections of Rossetti"; "Cobwebs of Criticism"; "My Story." His skill as a novelist has been since exemplified in "The Shadow of a Crime" (1885) ; "A Son of Hagar" (1886) ; "The Deemster" (1887); "The Bondman" (1890); "The "Scapegoat" (1891); "The Manxman" (1894) ; "The Christian" (1897) ; "The Eternal City" (1901); "The Prodigal Son" (1904) ; "The White Prophet" (1909) ; "The Woman Thou Gayest Me" (1913) ; etc. Most of these had very large sales, both in England and in the United States, and were almost equally successful when dramatized or filmed.
"The Christian" provoked much discus sion, the verdict in England being gen erally unfavorable to the motive of the book, while in the United States it was generally favorable. It was immedi ately translated into most of the lan guages of Europe, and provoked the same divided opinion everywhere. He traveled in Iceland (1890), in Russia (1892), on behalf of the persecuted Jews; and in 1895 visited the United States and Canada, where he repre sented the Society of Authors, and ob tained important concessions from the Canadian Parliament as to the Cana dian copyright demands. In 1898 he visited the United States again. He took a prominent part in the public af fairs of the Isle of Man and was knighted in 1918. During the World War he was prominently engaged in literary propaganda.