J. D. (John Davys) Beresford

Born in 1873, John Davys Beresford was an English writer whose work ranged across novels, short stories, journalism, and drama. He is now remembered chiefly for early science fiction and for tales with a supernatural edge, and he was an admirer of H. G. Wells strong enough to write an early critical study of Wells in 1915.

Among his best-known books is The Hampdenshire Wonder (1911), a novel about a super-intelligent child that helped give shape to later British science fiction. He also wrote works such as A World of Women, showing his interest in big speculative ideas and in how unusual premises can expose the habits and limits of ordinary society.

Beresford died in 1947. What still makes him interesting is the way his stories feel both forward-looking and intimate: even when he was writing about extraordinary possibilities, he kept his attention on character, mood, and the uneasy effect of change on everyday life.