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| pseudonym        = Richmal Crompton
| pseudonym        = Richmal Crompton
| birth_date      = {{birth date|df=yes|1890|11|15}}
| birth_date      = {{birth date|df=yes|1890|11|15}}
| birth_place      = [[Bury, Lancashire]], England
| birth_place      = [[Bury, Greater Manchester|Bury]], [[Lancashire]], England
| death_date      = {{death date and age|df=yes|1969|1|11|1890|11|15}}
| death_date      = {{death date and age|df=yes|1969|1|11|1890|11|15}}
| death_place      = [[Princess Royal University Hospital|Farnborough Hospital, Bromley]], England
| death_place      = [[Locksbottom]], London, England
| occupation      = Teacher, novelist, short story writer
| occupation      = Teacher, novelist, short story writer
| nationality      = English
| nationality      = English
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| signature        = Richmal-Crompton-Signature.png
| signature        = Richmal-Crompton-Signature.png
}}
}}
'''Richmal Crompton Lamburn''' (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969){{sfn|Cadogan|1986|pp=1 & 158}} was a popular English writer, best known for her ''[[Just William (book series)|Just William]]'' series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books.<ref>See generally, Cadogan, n.1 above; Jane McVeigh, '''Richmal Crompton, Author of "Just William:"''' A Literary Life (2022); and Kay Williams, '''Just-Richmal: The Life and Work of Richmal Crompton Lamburn''' (1986).</ref>
'''Richmal Crompton Lamburn''' (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969){{sfn|Cadogan|1986|pp=1 & 158}} was a popular English writer, best known for her ''[[Just William (book series)|Just William]]'' series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books.<ref>See generally, Cadogan, n.1 above; Jane McVeigh, ''Richmal Crompton, Author of "Just William:"'' A Literary Life (2022); Kay Williams, ''Just-Richmal: The Life and Work of Richmal Crompton Lamburn'' (1986); and Margaret Disher, ''Growing Up with Just William'' (1990).</ref>


==Life==
==Life==
Richmal Crompton Lamburn was born in [[Bury, Lancashire]], the second child of the Rev. Edward John Sewell Lamburn, a [[Classics]] [[Schoolmaster|master]] at [[Bury Grammar School]]<ref>''[[Crockford's Clerical Directory]]'' 1898 pp. 795–6: London, Horace Cox, 1898; see also Cadogan, n. 1 above at p.2. Richmal was known in the family as Ray. Williams, n. 1 above p.18.</ref> and his wife Clara (née Crompton)<ref>Regarding Clara, see McVeigh, n.1 above at 47-49.</ref> 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'' (1931),<ref>Williams, n.1 above pp. 47-49</ref> and as a successful writer on natural science as John Crompton.<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above, p. 126</ref> 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.<ref>McVeigh, n.1 above, p.30.</ref>
Richmal Crompton Lamburn was born in [[Bury, Greater Manchester|Bury]], the second child of the Rev. Edward John Sewell Lamburn, a [[Classics]] [[Schoolmaster|master]] at [[Bury Grammar School]]<ref>''[[Crockford's Clerical Directory]]'' 1898 pp. 795–6: London, Horace Cox, 1898; see also Cadogan, n. 1 above at p.2. Richmal was known in the family as Ray. Williams, n. 1 above p.18.</ref> and his wife Clara (née Crompton)<ref>Regarding Clara, see McVeigh, n.1 above at 47-49.</ref> 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'' (1931),<ref>Williams, n.1 above pp. 47-49</ref> and as a successful writer on natural science as John Crompton.<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above, p. 126</ref> 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.<ref>McVeigh, n.1 above, p.30.</ref>


Richmal Crompton attended [[St Elphin's School|St Elphin's Boarding School]] for the daughters of the clergy, originally based in [[Warrington]], [[Lancashire]], where Gwen also was in attendance.<ref>McVeigh, n.1 above, p.51.</ref> Richmal later moved with the school to a new location in [[Darley Dale]], near [[Matlock, Derbyshire|Matlock]], [[Derbyshire]] in 1904.<ref>Id.</ref> In order to further her chosen career as a schoolteacher, she won a scholarship to [[Royal Holloway, University of London|Royal Holloway College]], part of the [[University of London]] in [[Englefield Green]], [[Surrey]].<ref>McVeigh, n.1 above, pp.53, 73</ref> Crompton was elected Senior Scholar for the first year students, was secretary of the Classics Club, and treasurer of the Christian Union.<ref>McVeigh p.75.</ref> She graduated in 1914 with a BA honours degree in [[Classics]] (II class).<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above p.37</ref> Crompton took part in the [[Women's Suffrage]] movement.{{sfn|Cadogan|1986|p=40}}
Richmal Crompton attended [[St Elphin's School|St Elphin's Boarding School]] for the daughters of the clergy, originally based in [[Warrington]], [[Lancashire]], where Gwen also was in attendance.<ref>McVeigh, n.1 above, p.51.</ref> Richmal later moved with the school to a new location in [[Darley Dale]], near [[Matlock, Derbyshire|Matlock]], [[Derbyshire]] in 1904.<ref>Id.</ref> In order to further her chosen career as a schoolteacher, she won a scholarship to [[Royal Holloway, University of London|Royal Holloway College]], part of the [[University of London]] in [[Englefield Green]], [[Surrey]].<ref>McVeigh, n.1 above, pp.53, 73</ref> Crompton was elected Senior Scholar for the first year students, was secretary of the Classics Club, and treasurer of the Christian Union.<ref>McVeigh p.75.</ref> She graduated in 1914 with a BA honours degree in [[Classics]] (II class).<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above p.37</ref> Crompton took part in the [[Women's Suffrage]] movement.{{sfn|Cadogan|1986|p=40}}


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.<ref>Williams, no.1 above, pp.64-65.</ref> Her biographer [[Mary Cadogan]] writes that she was an excellent and committed teacher at both schools.<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above, 47, 61-64.</ref> 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.{{sfn|Cadogan|1986|p=64}} Crompton never married and had no children, but she greatly enjoyed being an aunt and a great-aunt.<ref>Id., pp.135-138.</ref> 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.<ref>Williams, n.1 above, p.65</ref> Her ''[[Just William (book series)|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 (The Glebe) built in [[Bromley Common]] for herself and her mother, Clara.{{sfn|Cadogan|1986|p=72}}
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.<ref>Williams, no.1 above, pp.64-65.</ref> Her biographer [[Mary Cadogan]] writes that she was an excellent and committed teacher at both schools.<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above, 47, 61-64.</ref> 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.{{sfn|Cadogan|1986|p=64}} Crompton never married and had no children, but she greatly enjoyed being an aunt and a great-aunt.<ref>Id., pp.135-138. She remarked that she was "probably the last surviving example of the Victorian professional aunt." Id., p.135.</ref> 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.<ref>Williams, n.1 above, p.65</ref> Her ''[[Just William (book series)|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 (The Glebe) built in [[Bromley Common]] for herself and her mother, Clara.{{sfn|Cadogan|1986|p=72}}


Crompton died in 1969 at the age of 78, after a heart attack,<ref>{{Cite news|date=13 January 1969|title=Richmal Crompton, 'Just William' creator dies in hospital|work=Newcastle Journal|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0002240/19690113/070/0005|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref> in [[Princess Royal University Hospital|Farnborough Hospital]].
Crompton died in 1969 at the age of 78, after a heart attack,<ref>{{Cite news|date=13 January 1969|title=Richmal Crompton, 'Just William' creator dies in hospital|work=Newcastle Journal|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0002240/19690113/070/0005|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref> in [[Princess Royal University Hospital|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.<ref>{{Cite news|date=3 May 1969|title=Authoress leaves £57,000|work=Aberdeen Evening Express|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000445/19690503/272/0011|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref>
 
Crompton left the copyright of all her books to her niece, Mrs Richmal C. L. Ashbee of Chelsfield, Kent; along with £57,623.<ref>{{Cite news|date=3 May 1969|title=Authoress leaves £57,000|work=Aberdeen Evening Express|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000445/19690503/272/0011|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref>


==Work==
==Work==
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2023}}
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".<ref>Saskia Solomon, "At 100, the 'Just William' Books Are an Icon of British Childhood," ''New York Times,'' April 22, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/22/books/review/richmal-crompton-just-william.html.</ref>  Her first published short story featuring William was "Rice Mould Pudding", published in ''Home Magazine'' in 1919.<ref>Mary Cadogan, ''The William Companion,'' p.221 (1990).</ref> She had written "The Outlaws" in 1917, but it was not published until March 1919.<ref>Id.</ref> In 1922, the first collection, entitled  ''Just-William'', was published.<ref>Id., p.219.</ref> She wrote 38 other ''William'' books throughout her life. The last, ''William the Lawless'', was published [[posthumous work|posthumous]]ly in 1970.<ref>Id., p.219.</ref> 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.<ref>Id., p.220.</ref>
{{original research section|date=May 2023}}
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 later.) 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 [[posthumous work|posthumous]]ly in 1970.
 
The William books sold over 12 million copies in the United Kingdom alone.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Greenway|first=Betty|date=2002|title=William Forever: Richmal Crompton's Unusual Achievement|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/35532|journal=The Lion and the Unicorn|volume=26|issue=1|pages=98–111|doi=10.1353/uni.2002.0004|s2cid=143724808|issn=1080-6563|url-access=subscription}}</ref> They have been adapted for films, stage-plays, and numerous radio and television series. Illustrations by [[Thomas Henry (illustrator)|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 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.
The William books sold over 12 million copies in the United Kingdom alone and they remain in print.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Greenway|first=Betty|date=2002|title=William Forever: Richmal Crompton's Unusual Achievement|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/35532|journal=The Lion and the Unicorn|volume=26|issue=1|pages=98–111|doi=10.1353/uni.2002.0004|s2cid=143724808|issn=1080-6563|url-access=subscription}}</ref> They have been adapted for films, stage-plays, and numerous radio and television series.<ref>Id., p.99. For more detail see Williams, n.1 above at pp.153, 166-167, 171, 179, 182-183, 185-186, 205-206, & 221.</ref> Illustrations by [[Thomas Henry (illustrator)|Thomas Henry]] contributed to their success.<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.81-82.</ref>
In 1934 Crompton wrote a controversial William story called "William and the Nasties,"<ref>Available at https://gabrielquotes.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/william-and-the-nasties-scan-split.pdf.</ref> (published in the 1945 book [[William the Detective]]) which seems to contain both antisemitism and a recognition of antisemitism's dangers. The story was omitted from future editions of the book.<ref>Concerning the controversy see Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.117-119.</ref>


Even ''William'' was originally created for a grown-up audience, as she saw ''Just William'' as a [[potboiler]].{{sfn|Cadogan|1986|p=69}} 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'' (1949) was aimed at younger children, and ''Enter – Patricia'' (1927) at girls. Crompton wrote two more ''Jimmy'' books, but no more ''Patricia'', and neither was as successful as ''William''.
Crompton saw her ''real'' work as writing adult fiction.<ref>McVeigh, n.1 above, pp.255, 261.</ref> Starting with ''The Innermost Room'' (1923), she wrote 41 novels for adults and published nine collections of short stories.<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.162-164.</ref> Their focus was generally village life in the [[Home Counties]]<ref>Id, p.36.</ref> 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.<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.145-146.</ref>


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:
Even ''William'' was originally created for a grown-up audience, as she saw ''Just William'' as a [[potboiler]].{{sfn|Cadogan|1986|p=69}}  She was pleased by its success, but seemed frustrated that her other novels and short stories did not receive the same recognition.<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.69-71</ref> 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.<ref>Id., p.52-54.</ref> Crompton tried several times to reformulate William for other audiences. ''Jimmy'' (1949) was aimed at younger children,<ref>Id., p.136.</ref> and ''Enter – Patricia'' (1927) at girls.<ref>Id. at 56-57.</ref> Crompton wrote two more ''Jimmy'' books,<ref>Id., p.136</ref> but no more ''Patricia'', and neither was as successful as ''William''.
{{blockquote|As a boy I knew Miss Richmal Crompton Lamburn well. She lived quietly with her mother in Cherry Orchard Road, Bromley Common. My family lived next door. In those days it was a small rural village. Miss Lamburn was a delightful unassuming young woman and I used to play with her young nephew Tommy. He used to get up to all sorts of tricks and he was always presumed to be the inspiration for William by all of us. Having contracted polio she was severely crippled and confined to a wheelchair. Owing to her restricted movements she took her setting from her immediate surroundings which contained many of the features described, such as unspoilt woods and wide streams and [[London Biggin Hill Airport|Biggin Hill Aerodrome]], very active in the Twenties.}}


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.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}
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:<ref>Regarding Thomas Edward Lamburn, who was born in July, 1915, see id., p.51,</ref>
{{blockquote|As a boy I knew Miss Richmal Crompton Lamburn well. She lived quietly with her mother in Cherry Orchard Road, Bromley Common. My family lived next door. In those days it was a small rural village. Miss Lamburn was a delightful unassuming young woman and I used to play with her young nephew Tommy. He used to get up to all sorts of tricks and he was always presumed to be the inspiration for William by all of us. Having contracted polio she was severely crippled and confined to a wheelchair. Owing to her restricted movements she took her setting from her immediate surroundings which contained many of the features described, such as unspoilt woods and wide streams and [[London Biggin Hill Airport|Biggin Hill Aerodrome]], very active in the Twenties.}} However, the adventures of Richmal's brother John (Jack) also are said to have provided the inspiration for some of William's activities,<ref>See Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.1-2, 70, 89n., and see generally, Disher, n.2 above.</ref> 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.<ref>Cadogan, n.1 above, p.90.</ref>


The ''William'' books have been translated into sixteen or seventeen languages.{{sfn|Cadogan|1986|p=82}}
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."<ref>McVeigh, n.1 above, p.259</ref> The ''William'' books have been translated into over twenty languages.<ref>Solomon, n.22 above.</ref>


==List of published works==
==List of published works==
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==Legacy==
==Legacy==
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.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Richmal Crompton|url=https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pub-histories/england/london/the-richmal-crompton-bromley|publisher= [[J D Wetherspoon]]|access-date = 20 September 2020}}</ref>
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.<ref>See for example: Michael Palin, "Foreword," in Williams, n.1 above, p.vii; Williams, n.1 above, p.221; Solomon, n.22 above; McVeigh, n.1 above, pp.289-290.</ref>
 
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 ("The Them") in place of "The Outlaws". The initial working title for the novel was "William the Antichrist".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|title=Reading group: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is our book for January|date=8 January 2019|last=Jordison|first=Sam|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/jan/08/reading-group-good-omens-by-terry-pratchett-and-neil-gaiman-is-our-book-for-january|access-date=13 August 2021}} See also, McVeigh, n.1 above, pp.289-290.</ref>


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 ("The Them") in place of "The Outlaws". The initial working title for the novel was "William the Antichrist".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|title=Reading group: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is our book for January|date=8 January 2019|last=Jordison|first=Sam|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/jan/08/reading-group-good-omens-by-terry-pratchett-and-neil-gaiman-is-our-book-for-january|access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref> Another of Pratchett's works, the [[Johnny Maxwell]] series, was also inspired by Just William, Pratchett stating that it was based very loosely on an idea of what Just William would be like in a 1990s setting.
Richmal Crompton's archives are held at [[Roehampton University]], London,<ref>University of Roehampton, Special Collections and Archives: Richmal Crompton Collection, https://library.roehampton.ac.uk/archives/richmalcrompton</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Richmal Crompton|url=https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pub-histories/england/london/the-richmal-crompton-bromley|publisher= [[J D Wetherspoon]]|access-date = 20 September 2020}}</ref>


== References ==
== References ==
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==Sources and further reading==
==Sources and further reading==
 
*[http://www.justwilliam.co.uk/page-biography1st.htm Biography] at Just William website.
*{{cite book |last1=Cadogan |first1=Mary |author1-link=Mary Cadogan |title=Richmal Crompton: the woman behind William |date=1986 |publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]] |location=London |isbn=9780049280540 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Cadogan |first1=Mary |author1-link=Mary Cadogan |title=Richmal Crompton: the woman behind William |date=1986 |publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]] |location=London |isbn=9780049280540 }}
*{{cite book | author=Ian Ousby | title=The Wordsworth Companion to Literature in English | publisher=Wordsworth Editions Ltd. | year=1994 | isbn=1-85326-336-2 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/wordsworthcompan00ousb | author-link=Ian Ousby }}
*Mary Cadogan (1990). ''The William Companion.'' London: Macmillan. {{ISBN|0-333-56524-X}}
*Just William Society website, https://justwilliamsociety.co.uk
* Jane McVeigh: ''Richmal Crompton, author of Just William : a literary life'', Cham : Springer International Publishing, 2022, {{ISBN | 978-3-030-96510-5}}
* Jane McVeigh: ''Richmal Crompton, author of Just William : a literary life'', Cham : Springer International Publishing, 2022, {{ISBN | 978-3-030-96510-5}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20101211043406/http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/celebs/authors2.html Manchester Authors, Writers and Poets Page]}} at the Papillon Graphics' Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester.
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20101211043406/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.
*{{cite book | author=Ian Ousby | title=The Wordsworth Companion to Literature in English | publisher=Wordsworth Editions Ltd. | year=1994 | isbn=1-85326-336-2 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/wordsworthcompan00ousb | author-link=Ian Ousby }}
*Kay Williams (1986). ''Just-Richmal: The Life and Work of Richmal Crompton Lamburn.'' Guildford: Genesis. {{ISBN|0-904351-35-1}}.


== External links ==
== External links ==
{{Wikisource author|Richmal Crompton}}
{{wikisource|works=or|Richmal Crompton}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/richmal-crompton}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/richmal-crompton}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=7152}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=7152}}
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[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London]]
[[Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:English women children's writers]]
[[Category:English short story writers]]
[[Category:English women novelists]]
[[Category:English women novelists]]
[[Category:Just William]]
[[Category:Just William]]
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[[Category:People from Chislehurst]]
[[Category:People from Chislehurst]]
[[Category:English writers with disabilities]]
[[Category:English writers with disabilities]]
[[Category:20th-century British women novelists]]

Latest revision as of 06:15, 7 November 2025

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Main other Richmal Crompton Lamburn (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969)Template:Sfn was a popular English writer, best known for her Just William series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books.[1]

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[2] and his wife Clara (née Crompton)[3] 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 (1931),[4] and as a successful writer on natural science as John Crompton.[5] 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.[6]

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.[7] Richmal later moved with the school to a new location in Darley Dale, near Matlock, Derbyshire in 1904.[8] 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.[9] Crompton was elected Senior Scholar for the first year students, was secretary of the Classics Club, and treasurer of the Christian Union.[10] She graduated in 1914 with a BA honours degree in Classics (II class).[11] Crompton took part in the Women's Suffrage movement.Template:Sfn

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.[12] Her biographer Mary Cadogan writes that she was an excellent and committed teacher at both schools.[13] 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.Template:Sfn Crompton never married and had no children, but she greatly enjoyed being an aunt and a great-aunt.[14] 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.[15] 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 (The Glebe) built in Bromley Common for herself and her mother, Clara.Template:Sfn

Crompton died in 1969 at the age of 78, after a heart attack,[16] 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.[17]

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".[18] Her first published short story featuring William was "Rice Mould Pudding", published in Home Magazine in 1919.[19] She had written "The Outlaws" in 1917, but it was not published until March 1919.[20] In 1922, the first collection, entitled Just-William, was published.[21] She wrote 38 other William books throughout her life. The last, William the Lawless, was published posthumously in 1970.[22] 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.[23]

The William books sold over 12 million copies in the United Kingdom alone and they remain in print.[24] They have been adapted for films, stage-plays, and numerous radio and television series.[25] Illustrations by Thomas Henry contributed to their success.[26] In 1934 Crompton wrote a controversial William story called "William and the Nasties,"[27] (published in the 1945 book William the Detective) which seems to contain both antisemitism and a recognition of antisemitism's dangers. The story was omitted from future editions of the book.[28]

Crompton saw her real work as writing adult fiction.[29] Starting with The Innermost Room (1923), she wrote 41 novels for adults and published nine collections of short stories.[30] Their focus was generally village life in the Home Counties[31] 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.[32]

Even William was originally created for a grown-up audience, as she saw Just William as a potboiler.Template:Sfn She was pleased by its success, but seemed frustrated that her other novels and short stories did not receive the same recognition.[33] 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.[34] Crompton tried several times to reformulate William for other audiences. Jimmy (1949) was aimed at younger children,[35] and Enter – Patricia (1927) at girls.[36] Crompton wrote two more Jimmy books,[37] 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:[38]

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As a boy I knew Miss Richmal Crompton Lamburn well. She lived quietly with her mother in Cherry Orchard Road, Bromley Common. My family lived next door. In those days it was a small rural village. Miss Lamburn was a delightful unassuming young woman and I used to play with her young nephew Tommy. He used to get up to all sorts of tricks and he was always presumed to be the inspiration for William by all of us. Having contracted polio she was severely crippled and confined to a wheelchair. Owing to her restricted movements she took her setting from her immediate surroundings which contained many of the features described, such as unspoilt woods and wide streams and Biggin Hill Aerodrome, very active in the Twenties.

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". However, the adventures of Richmal's brother John (Jack) also are said to have provided the inspiration for some of William's activities,[39] 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.[40]

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."[41] The William books have been translated into over twenty languages.[42]

List of published works

The publication dates are for the UK.

Just William short story collections

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Just William plays

File:The Richmal Crompton pub, Bromley.jpg
"The Richmal Crompton", a Wetherspoons pub in Bromley named after the local author
  • William and the Artist's Model, 1956
  • William the Terrible, BBC Radio Plays volume 1, 2008, published by David Schutte
  • William the Lionheart, BBC Radio Plays volume 2, 2008, published by David Schutte
  • William the Peacemaker, BBC Radio Plays volume 3, 2009, published by David Schutte
  • William the Avenger, BBC Radio Plays volume 4, 2009, published by David Schutte
  • William the Smuggler, BBC Radio Plays volume 5, 2010, published by David Schutte
  • William's Secret Society, BBC Radio Plays volume 6, 2010, published by David Schutte

Miscellaneous books for children

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

Others

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  • 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), republished in May 2015 by Sundial Press as "MIST And Other Ghost 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, 1931
  • 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
  • The House in the Wood - and other stories, 2022, 25 'lost' stories published by David Schutte
  • The Apple Blossom Lady - and other stories, 2023, 27 'lost' stories published by David Schutte
  • Oh, Clare! - 133 humorous sketches, 2024, 'lost' humorous sketches published by David Schutte
  • The Dream - and other stories, 2024, 32 'lost' stories published by David Schutte

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Other Short Stories

  • Half-an-Hour. Adelaide Observer, 23 December 1922

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.[43]

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 ("The Them") in place of "The Outlaws". The initial working title for the novel was "William the Antichrist".[44]

Richmal Crompton's archives are held at Roehampton University, London,[45] 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.[46]

References

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Sources and further reading

  • Biography at Just William website.
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  • Mary Cadogan (1990). The William Companion. London: Macmillan. Template:ISBN
  • Just William Society website, https://justwilliamsociety.co.uk
  • Jane McVeigh: Richmal Crompton, author of Just William : a literary life, Cham : Springer International Publishing, 2022, Template:ISBN
  • Template:Usurped at the Papillon Graphics' Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester.
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  • Kay Williams (1986). Just-Richmal: The Life and Work of Richmal Crompton Lamburn. Guildford: Genesis. Template:ISBN.

External links

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Template:William Brown

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  1. ↑ See generally, Cadogan, n.1 above; Jane McVeigh, Richmal Crompton, Author of "Just William:" A Literary Life (2022); Kay Williams, Just-Richmal: The Life and Work of Richmal Crompton Lamburn (1986); and Margaret Disher, Growing Up with Just William (1990).
  2. ↑ Crockford's Clerical Directory 1898 pp. 795–6: London, Horace Cox, 1898; see also Cadogan, n. 1 above at p.2. Richmal was known in the family as Ray. Williams, n. 1 above p.18.
  3. ↑ Regarding Clara, see McVeigh, n.1 above at 47-49.
  4. ↑ Williams, n.1 above pp. 47-49
  5. ↑ Cadogan, n.1 above, p. 126
  6. ↑ McVeigh, n.1 above, p.30.
  7. ↑ McVeigh, n.1 above, p.51.
  8. ↑ Id.
  9. ↑ McVeigh, n.1 above, pp.53, 73
  10. ↑ McVeigh p.75.
  11. ↑ Cadogan, n.1 above p.37
  12. ↑ Williams, no.1 above, pp.64-65.
  13. ↑ Cadogan, n.1 above, 47, 61-64.
  14. ↑ Id., pp.135-138. She remarked that she was "probably the last surviving example of the Victorian professional aunt." Id., p.135.
  15. ↑ Williams, n.1 above, p.65
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Saskia Solomon, "At 100, the 'Just William' Books Are an Icon of British Childhood," New York Times, April 22, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/22/books/review/richmal-crompton-just-william.html.
  19. ↑ Mary Cadogan, The William Companion, p.221 (1990).
  20. ↑ Id.
  21. ↑ Id., p.219.
  22. ↑ Id., p.219.
  23. ↑ Id., p.220.
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Id., p.99. For more detail see Williams, n.1 above at pp.153, 166-167, 171, 179, 182-183, 185-186, 205-206, & 221.
  26. ↑ Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.81-82.
  27. ↑ Available at https://gabrielquotes.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/william-and-the-nasties-scan-split.pdf.
  28. ↑ Concerning the controversy see Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.117-119.
  29. ↑ McVeigh, n.1 above, pp.255, 261.
  30. ↑ Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.162-164.
  31. ↑ Id, p.36.
  32. ↑ Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.145-146.
  33. ↑ Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.69-71
  34. ↑ Id., p.52-54.
  35. ↑ Id., p.136.
  36. ↑ Id. at 56-57.
  37. ↑ Id., p.136
  38. ↑ Regarding Thomas Edward Lamburn, who was born in July, 1915, see id., p.51,
  39. ↑ See Cadogan, n.1 above, pp.1-2, 70, 89n., and see generally, Disher, n.2 above.
  40. ↑ Cadogan, n.1 above, p.90.
  41. ↑ McVeigh, n.1 above, p.259
  42. ↑ Solomon, n.22 above.
  43. ↑ See for example: Michael Palin, "Foreword," in Williams, n.1 above, p.vii; Williams, n.1 above, p.221; Solomon, n.22 above; McVeigh, n.1 above, pp.289-290.
  44. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". See also, McVeigh, n.1 above, pp.289-290.
  45. ↑ University of Roehampton, Special Collections and Archives: Richmal Crompton Collection, https://library.roehampton.ac.uk/archives/richmalcrompton
  46. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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