Richmal Crompton

Richmal Crompton Lamburn was a popular English writer, best known for her William (book series)|Just William] series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books.

Life

Richmal Crompton Lamburn was born in Bury, the second child of the Rev. Edward John Sewell Lamburn, a Classics master at Bury Grammar School and his wife Clara Her brother, John Battersby Crompton Lamburn, also became a writer and is remembered under the name John Lambourne for his fantasy novel The Kingdom That Was, and as a successful writer on natural science as John Crompton. Richmal also had a sister, Gwen, who was 18 months older, and a younger sister, Phyllis, who died of whooping cough at age 14 months.
Richmal Crompton attended St Elphin's Boarding School for the daughters of the clergy, originally based in Warrington, Lancashire, where Gwen also was in attendance. Richmal later moved with the school to a new location in Darley Dale, near Matlock, Derbyshire in 1904. In order to further her chosen career as a schoolteacher, she won a scholarship to Royal Holloway College, part of the University of London in Englefield Green, Surrey. Crompton was elected Senior Scholar for the first year students, was secretary of the Classics Club, and treasurer of the Christian Union. She graduated in 1914 with a BA honours degree in Classics. Crompton took part in the Women's Suffrage movement.
In 1914, she returned to St Elphin's as a Classics mistress and later, at age 27, moved to Bromley High School in southeast London where she began her writing in earnest. Her biographer Mary Cadogan writes that she was an excellent and committed teacher at both schools. Having contracted poliomyelitis in 1923 she was left without the use of her right leg. She gave up her teaching career and began to write full-time. Crompton never married and had no children, but she greatly enjoyed being an aunt and a great-aunt. Crompton's first published story appeared in 1919, and the first of her quickly-popular "William" stories was published in Home magazine in February, 1919. Her William stories and her other literature were extremely successful, and three years after she retired from teaching, Crompton was able to afford to have a house built in Bromley Common for herself and her mother, Clara.
Crompton died in 1969 at the age of 78, after a heart attack, in Farnborough Hospital. She left the copyright of all her books to her niece, Mrs Richmal C. L. Ashbee of Chelsfield, Kent; along with £57,623.

Work

Crompton's best known books are the William stories, about a mischievous 11-year-old schoolboy and his band of friends, known as "The Outlaws". Her first published short story featuring William was "Rice Mould Pudding", published in Home Magazine in 1919. She had written "The Outlaws" in 1917, but it was not published until March 1919. In 1922, the first collection, entitled Just-William, was published. She wrote 38 other William books throughout her life. The last, William the Lawless, was published posthumously in 1970. Another, Just William: The Book of the Film, consists of the script of the 1938 film as well as six of the stories on which it was based.
The William books sold over 12 million copies in the United Kingdom alone and they remain in print. They have been adapted for films, stage-plays, and numerous radio and television series. Illustrations by Thomas Henry contributed to their success.
In 1934 Crompton wrote a controversial William story called "William and the Nasties," which seems to contain both antisemitism and a recognition of antisemitism's dangers. The story was omitted from future editions of the book.
Crompton saw her real work as writing adult fiction. Starting with The Innermost Room, she wrote 41 novels for adults and published nine collections of short stories. Their focus was generally village life in the Home Counties Though these novels have the same inventiveness and lack of sentimentality as the 'William' books, after the Second World War such literature had an increasingly limited appeal.
Even William was originally created for a grown-up audience, as she saw Just William as a potboiler. She was pleased by its success, but seemed frustrated that her other novels and short stories did not receive the same recognition. Her first published story was published in The Girl's Own Paper in 1918, concerning a little boy named Thomas, a forerunner of William who reacts against authority. Crompton tried several times to reformulate William for other audiences. Jimmy was aimed at younger children, and Enter – Patricia at girls. Crompton wrote two more Jimmy books, but no more Patricia, and neither was as successful as William.
Crompton never disclosed the source of inspiration for the main character William; different opinions exist. According to the actor John Teed, whose family lived next door to Crompton, the model for William was Crompton's nephew Tommy:
However, the adventures of Richmal's brother John also are said to have provided the inspiration for some of William's activities, and Tommy's younger sister has insisted that William and other of Crompton's characters are more a result of the latter's fertile imagination than they are sketches of real persons.
It has been said that Crompton's fiction "is based on serious themes, albeit that her genre of choice is often comedy" and that in it "pomposity and selfishness must be exposed and each of us should listen to our guiding spirit." The William books have been translated into over twenty languages.

List of published works

The publication dates are for the UK.

''Just William'' short story collections

Just William, 1922 More William, 1922William Again, 1923William the Fourth, 1924Still William, 1925William the Conqueror, 1926William the Outlaw, 1927William in Trouble, 1927William the Good, 1928William, 1929William the Bad, 1930William's Happy Days, 1930William's Crowded Hours, 1931William the Pirate, 1932William the Rebel, 1933William the Gangster, 1934William the Detective, 1935Sweet William, 1936William the Showman, 1937William the Dictator, 1938William and A.R.P., 1939 William and the Evacuees, 1940 William Does His Bit, 1941 William Carries On, 1942William and The Brains Trust, 1945Just William's Luck, 1948William the Bold, 1950William and the Tramp, 1952William and the Moon Rocket, 1954William and the Artist's Model, 1956William and the Space Animal, 1956William's Television Show, 1958William the Explorer, 1960William's Treasure Trove, 1962William and the Witch, 1964William and the Pop Singers, 1965William and the Masked Ranger, 1966William the Superman, 1968William the Lawless, 1970

''Just William'' plays

William and the Artist's Model, 1956William the Terrible, BBC Radio Plays volume 1, 2008, published by David SchutteWilliam the Lionheart, BBC Radio Plays volume 2, 2008, published by David SchutteWilliam the Peacemaker, BBC Radio Plays volume 3, 2009, published by David SchutteWilliam the Avenger, BBC Radio Plays volume 4, 2009, published by David SchutteWilliam the Smuggler, BBC Radio Plays volume 5, 2010, published by David SchutteWilliam's Secret Society, BBC Radio Plays volume 6, 2010, published by David Schutte

Miscellaneous books for children

Enter – Patricia, 1927Jimmy, 1949Jimmy Again, 1951Jimmy the Third, a compilation of stories from Jimmy and Jimmy Again, 1965

Others

The Innermost Room, 1923The Hidden Light, 1924Anne Morrison, 1925The Wildings, 1925David Wilding, 1926The House, 1926 Kathleen and I, and, of Course, Veronica, 1926 Millicent Dorrington, 1927A Monstrous Regiment, 1927 Leadon Hill, 1927The Thorn Bush, 1928Roofs Off!, 1928The Middle Things, 1928 Felicity Stands By, 1928 Sugar and Spice and Other Stories, 1928 Mist and Other Stories, 1928, republished in May 2015 by Sundial Press as "MIST And Other Ghost Stories"The Four Graces, 1929Abbot's End, 1929Ladies First, 1929 Blue Flames, 1930Naomi Godstone, 1930The Silver Birch and Other Stories, 1931 Portrait of a Family, 1931The Odyssey of Euphemia Tracy, 1932Marriage of Hermione, 1932The Holiday, 1933Chedsy Place, 1934The Old Man's Birthday, 1934Quartet, 1935Caroline, 1936The First Morning, 1936 There Are Four Seasons, 1937Journeying Wave, 1938Merlin Bay, 1939Steffan Green, 1940Narcissa, 1941Mrs Frensham Describes a Circle, 1942Weatherly Parade, 1944Westover, 1946The Ridleys, 1947Family Roundabout, 1948, republished in 2001 by Persephone BooksFrost at Morning, 1950Linden Rise, 1952The Gypsy's Baby, 1954Four in Exile, 1954Matty and the Dearingroydes, 1956Blind Man's Buff, 1957Wiseman's Folly, 1959The Inheritor, 1960The House in the Wood - and other stories, 2022, 25 'lost' stories published by David SchutteThe Apple Blossom Lady - and other stories, 2023, 27 'lost' stories published by David SchutteOh, Clare! - 133 humorous sketches, 2024, 'lost' humorous sketches published by David SchutteThe Dream - and other stories, 2024, 32 'lost' stories published by David Schutte

Legacy

Crompton's stories about William have delighted and influenced a diverse array of notable Britans, including: Antonia Frasier, John Lennon, Norman Tebbit, Michael Palin, Auberon Waugh, Martin Jarvis, and Terry Pratchett.
The novel and TV series Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett was inspired by Just William, with the premise being the Antichrist in the place of William, and his gang in place of "The Outlaws". The initial working title for the novel was "William the Antichrist".
Richmal Crompton's archives are held at Roehampton University, London, and at Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea, where some members of her family lived. A public house in Bromley is named in her honour and contains framed prints and texts from the William series.