Under the pseudonym of "Hal Willis, student at law" he brought out in 1824 Castle Baynard, or the Days of John, and in 1827 a second novel entitled Sir Roland, a Romance of the Twelfth Century in four volumes.
[2] Under the editorship of Theodore Hook he was on the staff of the New Monthly Magazine in 1837 and 1838, where he used the name Alfred Crowquill, and inserted his first contribution, "Achates Digby", in xlix.
At the close of 1839 he became connected with Bentley's Miscellany in which magazine his writings are sometimes (with illustrations by his brother) signed A. Crowquill and at other times Hal Willis.
Forrester was also the author of Eccentric Tales, by W. F. von Kosewitz, 1827, The Battle of the Annuals, a Fragment, 1835, and The Lord Mayor's Fool, 1840, the last two of which were anonymous.
He died from heart disease at his house in Beaumont Square, Mile End, London, leaving a widow and four children.