James Redding Ware

Who is James Redding Ware?

James Redding Ware was a British writer, novelist and playwright, creator of one of the first female detectives in fiction.

James Redding Ware was born in Southwark, south London, in 1832, the son of James Ware, a grocer, and Elizabeth, nee Redding. By 1851, his father had died, and his mother, according to the census, was a grocer and tea-dealer, and James Redding Ware was her assistant. By 1861, the household is no longer in place, and J. R. Ware is not readily identifiable in the census. But in 1865, James Redding Ware became a Freemason, at the Westbourne Lodge No. 733, and he was living in Peckham.

His detective works include: The Female Detective, 'edited by A.F.'; Secret Service, or, Recollections of a City Detective; The Private Detective and Revelations of the Private Detective.

Forrester was for many years known to be a pseudonym, but who he was actually, was unknown. However, recently one of his stories, 'A Child Found Dead: Murder or No Murder?', was discovered, reprinted as a pamphlet and published under the name of J. Redding Ware, as 'The Road Murder', an analysis of the Constance Kent case.