ABSTRACT
Born to Martin and Alice Collis Lemon, he spent a middle-class childhood in London and the country. Employed in a brewery and a tavern in the 1830s, Lemon simultaneously wrote short sketches and verse. In 1837 his first farce The P. L.; or, 30 Strand was produced and in 1839 he married Nelly Romer. As his family grew to ten children, Lemon continued to write plays and novels, the finest of which are perhaps the dramas Hearts are Trumps (1849) and Mind Your Own Business (1852). With Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Collins, and others, Lemon collaborated with Dickens in the Strolling Players, performing amateur theatricals (1850s) to benefit impecunious artists through the Guild of Literature and Art. A talented actor, he became known for his version of Falstaff (1868). The Lemon and Dickens families frequently exchanged visits and shared vacations.
