author
James Rice
1843–1882
A lively Victorian storyteller, he is best remembered for the popular novels he wrote with Walter Besant. His career moved through law, journalism, and publishing before ending far too early in 1882.
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, he became an English novelist whose name is closely tied to the fiction he produced with Walter Besant. Standard reference sources describe him as best known for that partnership, which brought him wide success in late Victorian literary life.
He studied at Queens' College, Cambridge, and later entered the legal profession, being called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1871. He was also active in publishing and journalism, including ownership of Once a Week, which helps explain the brisk, magazine-friendly energy of his fiction.
His best-known work began with the success of Ready-Money Mortiboy and continued through a run of collaborative novels with Besant. He died on April 26, 1882, at just 38, leaving behind a reputation as an entertaining and industrious writer of Victorian popular fiction.