author
James Rice
1843–1882
A Victorian novelist best remembered for the lively, popular books he wrote with Walter Besant, he moved from law and magazine publishing into a busy literary career that was cut short in his thirties.
2 Audiobooks
The Golden Butterfly
by Walter Besant, James Rice
The Chaplain of the Fleet
by Walter Besant, James Rice
About the author
Born in Northampton on September 26, 1843, James Rice was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied law. He was later called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, but writing and publishing became the center of his working life.
Rice also owned the illustrated weekly Once a Week. He is best known for his partnership with Walter Besant, with whom he wrote a string of successful novels including Ready-Money Mortiboy. Contemporary reference works also note him as a historian of the turf, showing the range of his interests beyond fiction.
He died at Redhill on April 26, 1882, aged just 38. Even with a short life, he left a clear mark on late Victorian popular fiction through his energetic collaborations and editorial work.