Gilbert Cannan (1884-1955) was a British novelist and dramatist. Born in Manchester of Scottish descent, he was educated at Manchester Grammar School and King's College, Cambridge; he started on a legal career, but turned to writing in 1908, after a short spell as an actor. He worked first as a translator, and reviewed in London publications. Many of his novels are in part autobiographical, and fit into a novel sequence the "Lawrie Saga", around the character Stephen Lawrie. During World War I he was a pacifist and then conscientious objector. After the war Cannan wrote and translated a great deal, and traveled. A breakdown in 1923 proved untreatable and he spent the rest of his life confined to a mental hospital.