'Just William' stories

William Brown is the boy who is forever 11 years old.

- By Richmal Crompton

Britain's greatest masterpieces

In fact, this year marks the centenary of the first book collections of his stories, Just William and More William, and he is actually a sprightly 103 in print years. Richmal Crompton’s boisterous creation made his first appearance in the short story Rice Mould Pudding, published in Home Magazine in 1919. A second story, The Outlaws, appeared the following month, introducing fellow scamps Ginger, Douglas and Henry.

Despite the tales being centred on a schoolboy anti-hero, their language and humour appealed to adults, as Crompton had originally intended. Speaking in the 1950s, she observed that it had not been until the Second World War that they ‘found their way from the general shelves to the children’s department in the bookshop. And even now I receive letters from adult—even elderly—readers’.

Many authorities on children’s literature have pondered the dual appeal of the stories. Crompton saw herself as a serious author and looked upon the early ‘William’ tales as potboilers. Home Magazine, in which the stories appeared between 1919 and 1922, and Modern Woman, in which they appeared between 1940 and 1946, were magazines aimed at females. They bookended the stories’ Happy Mag period (1922–40), which was family-orientated.