author
Edward Fordham Spence
1860–1932
A barrister who also wrote fiction, memoir, and lively books about the theatre, he moved easily between the courtroom and the stage. His work offers a sharp, readable glimpse of late Victorian and early 20th-century literary and theatrical life.
1 Audiobook
Our Stage and Its Critics By "E.F.S." of "The Westminster Gazette"
by Edward Fordham Spence
About the author
Born in 1860 and later known as a barrister as well as an author, Edward Fordham Spence wrote across several genres rather than staying in one lane. Reliable catalog and bibliography sources connect him with fiction, theatre criticism, memoir, and angling writing, showing a career shaped by both professional life and wide personal interests.
He is especially associated with Our Stage and Its Critics (1910), published under the byline "E.F.S." of The Westminster Gazette, a book that reflects his close engagement with the theatre world. Bibliographic records also identify him as the author of the novel A Freak of Fate (1886), the memoir Bar and Buskin: Being Memories of Life, Law and the Theatre (1930), and The Pike Fisher (1928).
That range helps explain his appeal today: Spence writes like someone who had seen several worlds from the inside. Whether discussing drama, recalling professional life, or turning to sport and leisure, he leaves behind the portrait of a versatile late- and post-Victorian man of letters who died in 1932.