Richmal Crompton

Infobox Writer
name = Richmal Crompton Lamburn
caption = Richmal Crompton Lamburn, pictured on the cover of her biography, along with her famous creation, William Brown
pseudonym = Richmal Crompton
birthdate = birth date|1890|11|15|mf=y
birthplace = Bury, Lancashire, England
deathdate = death date and age|1969|1|11|1890|11|15|mf=y
deathplace = Chislehurst London Borough of Bromley
occupation = Teacher, novelist, short story writer
nationality = English
period = 1919 to 1969
genre = Children's literature, novels, short stories
notableworks = Just William

Richmal Crompton Lamburn (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969) was a British writer, most famous for her "Just William" humorous short stories and books.

Life

Richmal Crompton Lamburn was born at Bury in Lancashire, the second child of Reverend Edward John Sewell Lamburn (Classics teacher at the Bury Grammar School) and his wife Clara (née Crompton). Her brother, John Battersby Crompton Lamburn, also became a writer, under the name John Lambourne, and is remembered for his fantasy novel "The Kingdom That Was" (1931).

Richmal Crompton attended St. Elphin's boarding school for the daughters of the clergy. It was originally based in Warrington (Lancashire) and she later moved with the School to a new location near Matlock, Derbyshire in 1904. In order to further her chosen career as a schoolteacher, she won a scholarship to the Royal Holloway College in London. She graduated in 1914 with a BA Honours degree in Classics (II class). She also took part in the Women's Suffrage movement at the time. In 1914, she returned to St Elphin’s as a Classics mistress and later, at age 27, moved to Bromley High School in south east London where she began her writing in earnest. Cadogan (1993) shows that she was an excellent and committed teacher at both schools. Having contracted poliomyelitis, she was left without the use of her right leg in 1923. She gave up her teaching career and began to write full-time. Later in her forties, she suffered from cancer and had a mastectomy (Cadogan, 1993).

She never married and had no children although she acted as aunt and great-aunt to other members of her family. Her Just William stories and her other literature were extremely successful and, three years after she retired from teaching, Richmal was able to afford to have a house built (The Glebe) in Bromley Common for herself and her mother, Clara. In spite of her disabilities, during the Second World War she did voluntary work in the Fire Service. She died in 1969 at her home in Chislehurst, London Borough of Bromley.

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 short story featuring William to be published was "Rice Mould", published in "Home Magazine" in 1919: although she had written "The Outlaws" in 1917—it wasn't published until later. In 1922 came the first collection, titled "Just William". She wrote 38 other William books throughout her life. The last, "William the Lawless" was published posthumously in 1970. The William books sold over twelve million copies in the UK alone [citation | url = http://muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/lion_and_the_unicorn/v026/26.1greenway.html | title = William Forever: Richmal Crompton's Unusual Achievement | first = Betty|last = Greenway | journal = The Lion and the Unicorn | volume = 26 | issue = 1 | pages = 98-111 | date = January | year = 2002] , and were also adapted for films, stage-plays, BBC radio and television series. Illustrations by Thomas Henry contributed to their success.

Crompton saw her [real] work as writing adult fiction. Starting with "The Innermost Room" (1923), she wrote 41 novels for adults and published nine collections of short-stories. Their focus was generally Edwardian middle-class life: after the Second World War such literature had an increasingly limited appeal.

Even William was originally created for a grown-up audience. She saw Just William as a potboiler (Cadogan, 1993) and, whilst pleased by its success, seemed frustrated that her other novels and short stories did not receive the same recognition.

Her first published tale, concerning a little boy named Thomas, a forerunner of William, who reacts against authority, was published in "The Girls’ Own Paper" in 1918. Crompton tried several times to reformulate William for other audiences. "Jimmy" (1949) was aimed at younger children, and "Enter - Patricia" (1927) at girls. Crompton wrote two more "Jimmy" books, but no more "Patricia", and neither were as successful as "William".

Crompton's fiction centres around family and social life, dwelling on the constraints that they place on individuals while also nurturing them. This is best seen in her depiction of children as puzzled onlookers of society's ways. Nevertheless, the children, particularly William and his Outlaws, almost always emerge triumphant.

The William books have been translated into nine languages and have been sold all over the world.

Although Richmal Crompton seems a forerunner of what, at one time, was termed the "modern woman" (independent, university-educated, career, successful writer, international recognition, etc), by the late 1960s, her Just William literature was taken out of a small number of libraries as being irrelevant to contemporary life and being utterly middle class (Cadogan, 1993). The re-publication of the William series in the 1980s received wide acclaim (Cadogan, 1993) and her comic genius is still recognised.

References

*cite book | author=Mary Cadogan | title=The Woman Behind William: A Life of Richmal Crompton | publisher =Pan Macmillan | year=1993 | id=ISBN 0-333-60038-X
*cite book | author=Ian Ousby | title= The Wordsworth Companion to Literature in English| publisher = Wordsworth Editions Ltd.| year=1994 | id=ISBN 1-85326-336-2
* [http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/celebs/authors2.html Manchester Authors, Writers and Poets Page] at the Papillon Graphics' Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester.
* [http://www.justwilliam.co.uk/page-biography1st.htm Biography] at Just William website.
* [http://histclo.hispeed.com/bio/c/bio-cromp.html Biography] at the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site.

List of published works

The publication dates are for the UK.

Just William series

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

William-like books

* "Enter - Patricia", 1927
* "Jimmy", 1949
* "Jimmy Again", 1951
* "Jimmy the Third", 1965

Others

* "The Innermost Room", 1923
* "The Hidden Light", 1924
* "Anne Morrison", 1925
* "The Wildings", 1925
* "David Wilding", 1926
* "The House", 1926 (also published as "Dread Dwelling")
* "Kathleen and I, and, of Course, Veronica", 1926 (short stories)
* "Millicent Dorrington", 1927
* "A Monstrous Regiment", 1927 (short stories)
* "Leadon Hill", 1927
* "The Thorn Bush", 1928
* "Roofs Off!", 1928
* "The Middle Things", 1928 (short stories)
* "Felicity Stands By", 1928 (short stories)
* "Sugar and Spice and Other Stories", 1928 (short stories)
* "Mist and Other Stories", 1928 (short stories)
* "The Four Graces", 1929
* "Abbot's End", 1929
* "Ladies First", 1929 (short stories)
* "Blue Flames", 1930
* "Naomi Godstone", 1930
* "The Silver Birch and Other Stories", 1931 (short stories)
* "Portrait of a Family", 1932
* "The Odyssey of Euphemia Tracy", 1932
* "Marriage of Hermione", 1932
* "The Holiday", 1933
* "Chedsy Place", 1934
* "The Old Man's Birthday", 1934
* "Quartet", 1935
* "Caroline", 1936
* "The First Morning", 1936 (short stories)
* "There Are Four Seasons", 1937
* "Journeying Wave", 1938
* "Merlin Bay", 1939
* "Steffan Green", 1940
* "Narcissa", 1941
* "Mrs. Frensham Describes a Circle", 1942
* "Weatherly Parade", 1944
* "Westover", 1946
* "The Ridleys", 1947
* "Family Roundabout", 1948, republished in 2001 by Persephone Books
* "Frost at Morning", 1950
* "Linden Rise", 1952
* "The Gypsy's Baby", 1954
* "Four In Exile", 1954
* "Matty and the Dearingroydes", 1956
* "Blind Man's Buff", 1957
* "Wiseman's Folly", 1959
* "The Inheritor", 1960

External links

*
* [http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7854/justwilliam.html Richmal Crompton's “Just William” and the Jews] , a critical essay by Rabbi Dr. Chaim Simons.

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Persondata
NAME= Lamburn, Richmal Crompton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Crompton, Richmal
SHORT DESCRIPTION= English novelist, short story writer,
DATE OF BIRTH= November 15, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH= Bury, Lancashire, England
DATE OF DEATH= January 11, 1969
PLACE OF DEATH= Chislehurst, Kent