# James Redding Ware > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/James_Redding_Ware > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/James_Redding_Ware.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Redding_Ware > Source revision: 1295296981 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **James Redding Ware** (1832 – c. 1909, [pseudonym](/source/Pseudonym) **Andrew Forrester**) was an English writer, [novelist](/source/Novelist) and [playwright](/source/Playwright), creator of one of the first female detectives in fiction. His last known work was a [dictionary](/source/Dictionary). ## Early life James Redding Ware was born in [Southwark](/source/Southwark), [South London](/source/South_London), in 1832, the son of James Ware, a grocer, and Elizabeth, née Redding. By 1851, his father had died, and his mother, according to the [census](/source/Census), was a grocer and tea-dealer, and James Redding Ware was her assistant. By 1861, the household was no longer in place, and J. R. Ware was not readily identifiable in the census.[1] But in 1865, James Redding Ware became a [Freemason](/source/Freemasonry), at the Westbourne Lodge No. 733, and he was living in Peckham. He became a Junior Warden at the Urban Lodge, no. 1196, and by 1872 a Worshipful Master (WM).[2] ## Literary career His detective works include: *The Female Detective* (c. 1863/1864),[3] 'edited by A.F.'; *Secret Service, or, Recollections of a City Detective* (1864?); *The Private Detective* and *Revelations of the Private Detective* (both c. 1868). "Forrester" was for many years known to be a [pseudonym](/source/Pseudonym), but who he was actually was unknown. However, one of his stories, "A Child Found Dead: Murder or No Murder?", was discovered, reprinted as a [pamphlet](/source/Pamphlet) and published under the name of J. Redding Ware, as "The Road Murder", an analysis of the [Constance Kent](/source/Constance_Kent) case.[4] With this as a clue, Forrester/Ware's first stories of the female detective can be found in a journal entitled *Grave and Gay* in summer 1862. The character predates the 1863/1864 appearance of W. S. Hayward's *The Revelations of a Lady Detective*[5] although not that of [Ruth Trail](/source/Ruth_the_Betrayer). In 1860 a novel, *The Fortunes of the House of Pennyl. A Romance of England in the Last Century* (Blackwood's London Library) was published, with illustrations by [Phiz](/source/Hablot_Knight_Browne), under the name J. Redding Ware. By 1868, he was a contributor to the *Boy's Own Paper*, the series of [penny-bloods](/source/Penny_dreadful) owned by [Edwin Brett](/source/Edwin_Brett), although no particular work has been attributed to him. He also contributed to *Bow Bells Magazine*.[6] Ware wrote *The Death Trap*, a play staged at the Grecian Saloon, City Road, [Shoreditch](/source/Shoreditch), with George Conquest, the theatre manager, as the villain.[7] He had now become a jobbing writer for hire, producing books on chess; a book on the Isle of Wight with photographs by [William Russell Sedgefield](/source/William_Russell_Sedgefield) and [Frank Mason Good](/source/Frank_Mason_Good); a volume of *The Life and Speeches of His Royal Highness Prince Leopold*; *Mistaken Identities. Celebrated Cases of Undeserved Suffering, Self-Deception, and Wilful Imposture*; as well as writing extensively for magazines. His only seeming connection to his early days as a writer of detective stories was with the publication, possibly in 1880,[8] of *Before the Bench: Sketches of Police Court Life* (London, Diprose & Bateman). Posthumously, he was most famous for *Passing English of the Victorian Era. A Dictionary of Heterodox English Slang and Phrase* (London, Routledge, 1909), published shortly after his death. ## Works - *The Fortunes of the House of Pennyl: A Romance of England in the Last Century* (1860 as JR Ware)[9] - *A Nice Quiet Cottage. A One-act Farce (1863)* - *The Revelations of a Private Detective (1863)* - *The female detective: [the original lady detective, 1864]*, London: British Library, 2012. ISBN 978-0-7123-5878-1 Reprint of the 1864 edition. - *The Road Murder. Analysis of this Persistent Mystery* (1865) - *Tales by a Female Detective* (1868) - *Opera Comique* (1870) - *The Death Trap; Or a Cat's-Paw. A Drama in Four Acts* (1870) - *The Modern Hoyle; Or, How to Play Whist - Chess - Cribbage - Dominoes - Draughts - Backgammon, and Besique* (1870) - *The Isle of Wight* (1871)[10] - *Bothwell: A Drama in Four Acts* (1871) - *Pipermans' Predicaments. A Farce, in One Act* (1871) - *Bothwell. A Drama, in Four Acts* (1871) - *The Meadows of St. Gervais. A Farce-comedy, in Two Acts* (1871) - *One Snowy Night. A Comedy, in One Act* (1871) - *In Quarantine. A Comedy, in One Act* (1871) - *The Polish Jew: a drama in three acts* (Emile Erckmann, Alexandre Chatrian, trans JR Ware 1872?) - *Before the Bench: Sketches of Police Court Life* (1880) - *Some Social Science. A Satirical Comedy, in Three Acts* (1880) - *Alpine Betrothals. A Swiss Eclogue, for Music* (1880) - *Constant Woman: A Drawing-room Drama for Two and a Parlourmaid* (1881)[11] - *A Woman Will be a Woman. An Original Duologue* (1883) - *Twenty and Forty. An Original Comedy* (1883) - *Life and Speeches of His Royal Highness Prince Leopold* (1884) - *Wonderful Dreams of Remarkable Men and Women* (1884) - *Famous Centenarians* (1886) - *Mistaken Identities: Celebrated Cases of Undeserved Suffering, Self-deception, and Wilful Imposture* (1886) - *The Life and Times of Colonel Fred Burnaby* (with RK Mann, 1886) - *Passing English of the Victorian Era: A Dictionary of Heterodox English Slang and Phrase* (1909)[12] ## See also - [Got the morbs](/source/Got_the_morbs) ## References 1. 1841, 1851, 1861 UK census 1. *The Era*, 1 December 1872; he was still a member of the Urban Lodge, according to the *Era*, 22 November 1891 1. 1864: British Library catalogue suggested date; acquisition stamp date in British Library copy: 9 January 1863 1. J. R. Ware, *The Road Murder. Analysis of This Persistent Mystery, Published in 1862, Now Re-Printed, with Farther [sic] Remarks*, by J. R. Ware (London, W. Oliver, 1865) 1. Judith Flanders. "Commentary: The Hanky-Panky Way". *TLS*, 18 June 2010 1. *Bookseller*. 1868. 1. *The Era*. 12 June 1870. 1. Suggested date in British Library catalogue 1. [*The Fortunes of the House of Pennyl: A Romance of England in the Last Century*](https://books.google.com/books?id=YLEBAAAAQAAJ) at Google Books 1. [*The Isle of Wight*](https://archive.org/details/isleofwight00warerich) at the Internet Archive 1. [*Constant Woman: A Drawing-room Drama for Two and a Parlourmaid*](https://archive.org/details/constantwomanad00waregoog) at the Internet Archive 1. [*Passing English of the Victorian Era: A Dictionary of Heterodox English Slang and Phrase*](https://archive.org/details/passingenglishof00wareuoft) at the Internet Archive --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James Redding Ware](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Redding_Ware) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Redding_Ware?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.