"IAN HAY, pen name of John Hay Beith (1876-), British novelist, was born at Rusholme, nr. Manchester, April 17 1876, and was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh, and St. John's College, Cambridge. At the outbreak of the World War he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 10th Service Batt., was mentioned in despatches and decorated with the M.C. He published amongst other novels Pip (1907) and A Man's Man (1909); but he is best known as the author of The First Hundred Thousand (1915), a humorous sketch of military life in the early days of recruiting, and its sequel The Last Million (1918). In 1917 he published Carrying On, and in 1919 his novel Happy Go Lucky (1913) was dramatized as Tilly of Bloomsbury and produced by Arthur Bourchier at the Apollo theatre, London.
A Safety Match (191 I) was also dramatized and produced by Arthur Bourchier at the Strand theatre in Jan. 1921.