John Ford

John Ford was born to a distinguished family in 1586. It is known that he attended Exeter College from 1601-1602. At age 16 he left to study at a prestigious law school, the Middle Temple, where he also wrote poems. By 1606, he was unable to pay tuition and was expelled from the school, so he turned to writing to support himself. By 1608 he had made enough money to return to school, but instead he continued to write. Prior to the start of his career as a playwright, he continued to write long poems and essays published as pamphlets. After 1620 he began to write plays, first in collaboration with Thomas Dekker, John Webster, and William Rowley. In the late 1620s he began to write alone, and it is these solo works for which he is most well-known. Very little is known about his personal life, and there is no record of him after 1639, leading many to believe he died shortly after the 1639 publication of The Lady’s Trial. ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore is the most well-known of his works.