Greyfriars School


Greyfriars School is a fictional English public school used as a setting in the long-running series of stories by the writer Charles Hamilton, who wrote under the pen-name of Frank Richards. Although the stories are focused on the Remove, whose most famous pupil was Billy Bunter, other characters also featured on a regular basis.
Time is frozen in the Greyfriars stories; although the reader sees the passing of the seasons, the characters' ages do not change and they remain in the same year groups.
From 1908 to 1940, the stories appeared in The Magnet, in a total of 1,683 weekly issues. After 1940, the stories continued to appear in book form until Hamilton's death in 1961. Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School was broadcast as a BBC television series from 19 February 1951 to 22 July 1961. A comic strip was published in Knockout from 1939 to 1958, and then drawn by various other artists until Knockout merged with Valiant, in which comic strips continued to appear from 23 February 1963 to 16 October 1976.

Location

Greyfriars School is in the county of Kent, southeast England. The school lies on the fictional river Sark, upstream of the nearby village of Friardale and downstream of the market town of Courtfield. It is near the coast: the fishing village of Pegg is described as being within a mile. There are two other public schools nearby, Cliff House girls school and Highcliffe. Farther away are the towns of Lantham and Wapshott.

Organisation

The school consists of seven forms, loosely based on age groups. These are: First Form, Second Form, Third Form, Lower Fourth / "The Remove", Upper Fourth, "The Shell", Fifth Form and Sixth Form. Each form has its own Form Master, who takes the majority of the lessons. Specialist masters are used for French, sports and mathematics.
The Headmaster appoints a Head Prefect, who is responsible for leading the other Prefects and supporting the Headmaster in matters of school discipline. There is also a School Captain, who is head of school games. The School Captain is elected by a democratic vote of all members of the school. In the great majority of the stories, both positions were held by George Bernard Wingate. Similarly, each Form has a Head Boy, appointed by the Form Master and a Form Captain, elected by the Form.
Unusually, both in terms of real-life public schools and their fictional counterparts, Greyfriars School does not have a house system. In the early Magnet stories, this created a problem for the author in that inter-house rivalries are a useful source of plot conflicts in many fictional school stories. To compensate for this, Frank Richards created three separate forms of similar age groups at Greyfriars as well as rival characters in the neighbouring Highcliffe School. As the stories developed, the time would come when plot conflicts would arise naturally from the minutely detailed characters that were fleshed out over the years.
The school is supervised by a Board of Governors, whose members include the short-tempered local landowner, Sir Hilton Popper, as well as Colonel Wharton and Major Cherry, both relatives of prominent characters in the Greyfriars Remove form.
Boys spend most of the day in class, or in their spare time either in a common room, on the sports fields, or in shared studies; they sleep in shared dormitories. Breakfast and lunch are taken communally. A modest high tea in hall is also provided, but most of the boys prefer to make their own arrangements in their studies, funds permitting.

Ethos

While the masters naturally emphasise scholastic matters, for the pupils it is physical activities that are at the heart of the school's ethos. Prowess at sports is the best route to popularity and respect, while over-attainment at study is something of lesser, if not negative, importance. Disputes are often settled by fights, with the invariable, if unrealistic, outcome that virtue triumphs over vice. Corporal punishment is widely used by the masters and by the Sixth Form prefects. The ultimate punishment, short of expulsion, is a birching administered by the saintly headmaster, Dr Locke. Lesser punishments are lines, or for really serious infractions among the older forms a "book". There is also a Punishment Room which, in rare and particularly serious cases, may be used to keep an offender in solitary confinement for a number of days.

Style and themes

Hamilton's writing style has been compared with that of his contemporary P G Wodehouse. A light and distinctive prose style combines with a strong comedic element and a large ensemble of strongly-drawn characters. The exceptional volume of material produced by Hamilton over his writing career allowed both characters and locations to be developed in great depth.
Observations of contemporary life and satire are found in Hamilton's work, and he frequently uses his characters as mouthpieces to make telling ironic points:
In particular, he had little respect for professions or pretensions, and politicians, lawyers and stockbrokers are regularly at the sharp end of his cynical prose.
Time is frozen in the Greyfriars stories; although the reader sees the passing of the seasons, the characters' ages do not change and the students remain in the same year groups.
The style of the stories evolved over the years. For the first decade, the stories tended to be complete episodes. This was also a development period in which the author established his style. During the 1920s, the format gradually changed to serials; this was also a period of character development in which many of the large cast of characters were given their own storylines in turn. Many commentators agree that the "golden age" of Greyfriars stories was in the period 1930 to 1934, when the standard of plotlines and mellow humour reached its peak; while after 1934, the high standard of plot construction continued, but plots and themes were increasingly repeated.
Hamilton's work has attracted criticism, most notably from George Orwell in a 1940 essay published in Horizon magazine. Orwell described Hamilton's style as easily imitated, plagiarist, and largely comprising shallow right wing content. He also expressed incredulity that stories spanning 30 years could have been authored by the same individual. The key passage in his essay, which was to provoke a strong response from Hamilton, is reproduced below.
Hamilton's response to this criticism was presented in an article published in the same magazine shortly afterwards, in which he rebutted each of Orwell's points.
Other commentators have challenged the view that Hamilton's work can be narrowly categorised as right wing, drawing attention to examples of his output that demonstrate strong independent views. Over the years, Hamilton was ever ready to air unfashionable causes to his young audience, but did so in a way that did not attract controversy or jeopardise publication of his stories. Anti-capitalism, early Socialism, the Suffragette movement and conscientious objectors during World War I all received sympathetic treatment in Hamilton's work. In an age when the word "nigger" was not yet regarded in the same pejorative sense that applies today, Hamilton's work consistently emphasised the offensive nature of the term from as early as 1922; and his output even included unfashionable anti-British sentiments in stories set against the background of imperial India.

Main recurring characters

Although the full ensemble of recurring characters in the Greyfriars world is in the hundreds, a smaller group of fewer than 20 recurring characters, along with guest characters, drive the majority of the stories. Each of the following characters appears in more than 800 Magnet stories.

Lower Fourth Form (Remove)

The main characters in the stories are to be found in the Lower Fourth Form, known as the Remove.
  • William George Bunter – known as Billy Bunter, is the best known character in the stories. He was initially conceived as a minor character, but developed into one of the principal characters of the stories as his comic potential was realised. His big round spectacles and rolling gait earned him the nickname the "'Owl of the Remove'". Foolish, greedy, deceitful, comically conceited, but essentially harmless. Among his few virtues are an occasional tendency to display courage for the sake of others ; a genuine love and concern for his mother; and, oddly enough, generosity, on the rare occasions when he is in possession of food or cash. Appears in 1,670 stories and introduced in Magnet No. 1 The Making of Harry Wharton.
  • The Famous Five – a quintet of friends comprising Harry Wharton , his closest friend Frank Nugent , cheery and boisterous Bob Cherry , Indian Prince Hurree Jamset Ram Singh and plain-speaking Johnny Bull from Yorkshire. All strong sportsmen, they are the de facto leaders of the Greyfriars Remove. Wharton and Nugent were both introduced in Magnet No. 1 The Making of Harry Wharton and are the only two characters to appear in all 1,683 Magnet stories; while Cherry was introduced in Magnet No. 2 The Taming of Harry and appears in 1,682 Magnet stories.
  • Percival Bolsover - originally introduced as an unpleasant bully, though has calmed over time. Now shares a study with French junior Napoleon Dupont, his one true friend, whom he protects from bullying. Appears in 856 stories and first introduced in Magnet No. 182 The Cock of the Walk.
  • Peter Hazeldene - weak and vacillating, earning him the early nickname of "Vaseline". Later known simply as "Hazel". His sister is schoolgirl Marjorie Hazeldene, whose popularity among many Greyfriars boys leads them to show more patience towards her brother than he perhaps deserves. Appears in 834 stories and first introduced in Magnet No. 2 The Taming of Harry.
  • Lord Mauleverer – outwardly, a languid aristocratic millionaire with a sleepy demeanour. But there are hidden depths to “Mauly” - his keen judgement of human character and simple faith in human nature have led him more than once to show loyalty to friends in adverse circumstances. On such occasions he reveals an astute mind and considerable leadership qualities, along with a talent for boxing that is a match for anyone in the form. Appears in 922 stories and first introduced in Magnet No. 184 The Schoolboy Millionaire.
  • Harold Skinner – one of the most unpleasant characters at Greyfriars – cowardly, malicious and with unwholesome vices such as smoking and gambling. The perpetrator of cruelly accurate cartoons and malicious practical jokes. Appears in 1,232 stories and first introduced in Magnet No. 1 The Making of Harry Wharton.
  • Sidney James Snoop - a weak character, very much under Skinner's unhealthy influence. Appears in 887 stories and first introduced in Magnet No. 45 A Lad from Lancashire.
  • Peter Hastings Todd – a tall, thin, budding lawyer who is the son of a Clerkenwell solicitor. Devotes much of his time to improving Bunter: a futile, fruitless and frustrating occupation. Appears in 1,039 stories and first introduced in Magnet No. 205 The Duffer's Double.
  • Herbert Tudor Vernon-Smith– a charismatic but reckless and quick-tempered character who features prominently in the stories. A natural leader, both on and off the sports field, but with a hard and selfish streak. Has too much money, thanks to the indulgence of his millionaire father, which allows him to follow a rebellious lifestyle that has earned him the nickname "The Bounder". Much improved by his friendship with Tom Redwing who was introduced in 1918. Appears in 1,279 stories and first introduced in Magnet No. 119 The Bounder of Greyfriars.