The Development of the School Story

One of the most prolific genres of children's literature is the school story, a major subdivision of which is the boarding school story. This latter group is a genre of literature, almost unique to the English-speaking nations which developed, across the world, as a direct consequence of the British Empire. There are some German and American boarding school stories, but very few. The peculiar habit of the English upper and middle classes to send their sons away to school from an early age was eventually to lead to the creation of such classics as Tom Brown's Schooldays that reflected the subculture of children in these institutions. The popularity of these books spread in the early years of this century over that part of the world ruled by England.

              According to Musgrave:

      'The genre was conceived around the middle of the last century and was almost dead before the Second World War. ... The accepted version of the biography of this minor literary genre is that it was born suddenly and apparently without parents, with the publication in 1857 of Tom Brown's Schooldays.'

        However, he does concede there were some children's books written around 1800. Although Musgrave does not state this, it is implied that he is referring to what might be called 'Public School Stories'. Even by the end of the Victorian age:

      'The passage of time [had] promoted the nineteenth century from the status of a quaint satirizable yesterday to the more eminent remove of 'History', [and] the English public schools have received a respectable share of the attention bestowed upon the institutions of the period.'

        Dickens and Hughes had, with Dombey & Son and Tom Brown's Schooldays respectively, brought the English boarding school to the forefront of public attention. Their appeal was instantaneous and has lasted to this day.

        Hughes was a great moralizing, Christian didactician, and Dickens an excellent journalist who knew how to gain his reading public's attention with a riveting tale well told. The standards set by these two great writers was to be the benchmark of succeeding generations. The characters they created, and the plots they wove, were to stimulate the public, so the appetite for the printed word grew until the Religious Tract Society and Amalgamated Press, to name but two houses, were publishing hundreds of thousands of words each week for their youthful subscribers.

        It can easily be shown that, even if earlier books were not adventure or school stories, there were books written hundreds of years before Musgrave's suggested nascence of the genre specifically for children, and that, even well before his putative 'date of birth', there had been many genuine school stories.

        Carpenter and Prichard consider Pueriles Confabulantiunculae to be the precursor of the School Story. This, a collection of Latin tags and their translations, was intended as a Latin primer of its day. However, for today's reader, it gives an insight into the life of a 17th century schoolboy.

        The Governess, by Sarah Fielding, was published in 1749, but, although she used a school as the setting for a series of stories, it was not a true school story. The first 'true' school story was Village School by Dorothy Kilner, in which she recounted the misdeeds, and their consequences, of Mrs Bell's pupils. The book is at pains to demonstrate the perils of wrongdoing and the rewards of virtue, and is an early example of indoctrinaire ideology in a book intended for use in the school. There is little comfort for the sinner, nor indeed the reader. One child drowns as a result of ignoring the warnings of danger surrounding a well. The catastrophe, perhaps, a convenient ending to the book, demonstrates the hazards of carelessness with candles, when the schoolmistress burns to death in a fire caused by such negligence.

        Possibly the first account of boarding school life was published in The Parent's Assistant by Maria Edgeworth. Again, the stories within her books are morality tales; and the didacticism is still prominent. However, the books were intended for children to read and, what is more important, in accordance with her philosophy, as well as learning from, enjoy. There is no connection between 'episodes'. This first boarding school story, The Barring Out, and presumably derived from the "Barring Out" at Winchester in 1793 when troops were required to quell what was seen, at a time of national crisis during the Napoleonic Wars, as a rebellion. Most of the public schools had barrings out around this time, but this one was probably the most notorious, receiving wide newspaper coverage; hence the postulate.

        When the boys of Dr Middleton's school are banned from using their theatre, they bar themselves into the schoolroom. Eventually, starved into submission, they surrender amidst the embarrassment of discovering the caveat had been entered to prevent the spread of diphtheria. There is not the overt moralizing used by many authors; nor is the tone as didactic. The book is enjoyable because of this, but, it is, nonetheless, intended to convey the message of the importance of obedience to those in authority.

        Elizabeth Sandham was among the most widely read juvenile authors of her day. The Boys' School, and The Schoolfellows (one of the first girls' school stories) are both didactic narratives set in boarding schools. Charles and Mary Lamb's book, Mrs Leicester's School is similar to The Governess and consists of unconnected stories set around a school.

        It was not until Harriet Martineau published The Crofton Boys that the form of the school story took something approaching its present shape. This book was published as volume four of a series called The Playfellow.  Hugh Proctor, the youngest boy at Crofton School, loses his foot in an accident. He had gone to school at the age of eight, rather than the usual ten, despite there being no one to 'mother' him. Here, the daily happenings in a boarding school are fully recounted. The book is full of moralizing about religion, while the importance of learning (both before Hugh goes to school, and especially after his accident) is emphasized. The tone changes at this point to encourage perseverance as well as acceptance of, and satisfaction with, one's lot in life. Eventually, Hugh, whose ambition in life had been to become a sailor, goes to India. The book closes with his mawkish observation, "I should never have gone to India if I had not lost my foot; and I think it well worth while losing my foot to go to India."

        Here, for the first time, we see what will become the typical late-Victorian boys' book ethos of overcoming all trials and tribulations to achieve one's heart's desire. If only for this reason, this book marks a watershed in the history of the school story.

        Finally, in 1857, came the publication of perhaps the greatest school story of all time - Tom Brown's Schooldays. Tom, "a fair specimen of the most mischievous and reckless of British youth", changes into a manly Christian according to the moral didacticism of the book, after the near death of George Arthur. Hughes aim was "[to do] good ... by a real novel written for boys ... in a right spirit, but distinctly aiming at being interesting." The book is to some extent autobiographical, and was intended to show Hughes' son what life at school was like, although Hughes claims that Tom Brown is 'Everyman' in youthful guise rather than a self-portrait. What is undeniable is the book did portray an authentic picture of English public school life at the time, 'warts and all'. Interspersed with this are the fervent idealistic teachings of the Christian Socialist movement to which Hughes belonged. However, despite the large part played by Flashman in Tom Brown's Schooldays, who serves to take the action away from the institution of school itself, the book, essentially, deals with an enclosed world.

        The idealism that Hughes strived to portray in this enclosed world contrasted harshly with the dour world of reality described by Dickens. These two extremes, when mixed with the Imperialistic fervour of the late nineteenth century, led to later stories which showed how, through education and manly Christianity, the true English boy could (and should) become a shining beacon fighting for Queen and Country to expand and uphold the Empire that existed to teach the world of the superiority of the upright, moral, God-fearing, upper middle-class Englishman above all others.

        It can be postulated that childhood was 'invented' in the middle of the nineteenth century, when leisure time became commoner than before. As a result of the various Factory Acts, no children could be forced into the childhood slavery that previously had been the common lot for so many. The Education Act finally ensured at least Primary Education for all children. Publishers recognized this potentially lucrative market and devised ways of meeting the demand created by literacy and free time.

        Eric, or Little by Little is a deeply moralizing book, with a tone ridiculed to the point of insult in Kipling's Stalky & Co. when M'Turk was sent a copy as a present. Eric Williams, the eponymous hero of Eric, or Little by Little, despite being bullied as a day-boy, becomes a boarder. He falls from grace when discovered using a 'crib'. He slides into more sinful ways, and takes to smoking and drinking. After a temporary expulsion, he is blackmailed by the local publican so that he is driven to run away to sea. His terminal illness, brought on by abuse from the ship's Captain, leads to his moral reformation, and he dies in a state of grace, once more at Roslyn School, surrounded by his schoolfellows. The book is partly autobiographical with descriptions of Dean Farrar's own school, and Harrow and Marlborough, where he had taught. Despite "The lacrimosity [which arose] from [his] state of mind" when writing the book, it was an instant success, especially among the working-class, who were used to a constant stream of such moralistic preaching. For such a best-selling book, it has received more destructive criticism than perhaps any other!

        The Sunday School Movement, which had expanded in the early years of the Nineteenth Century, led to the formation of publishing houses like the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and the Religious Tract Society (RTS). Apart from the obvious distribution of Bibles, they were responsible for many ideological and moralizing books for children. At first, the majority of children's books were largely didactic, religious outpourings. The former's books were known as Reward Books, and were given as prizes for attendance at Sunday School. The RTS began printing children's books in about 1812. These "sentimentally pious books" were to prove immensely popular and have many reprints. The Society was later to found a series of children's papers the most famous of which was the Boys' Own Paper (BOP) amongst whose early writers was Talbot Baines Reed, one of many famous authors, from whose pens were to come some of the best known and loved school stories. From this point on, the volume of children's literature grew, especially in the field of school and adventure stories. Authors like Henty and Stables wrote large numbers of books, many of which appeared in weekly instalments in the B. O. P., before being published in hardback formats.

        The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's is the most famous of Baines Reed's school stories. Like Tom Brown's Schooldays, St. Dominic's teaches a similar moral code of 'Muscular Christianity', and "inaugurated the British fashion for school stories, which lasted from its publication until the Second World War." Since Baines Reed had not been to boarding school, there is not the 'realism' and authenticity found in Tom Brown, or Stalky & Co., but the plot is detailed and the narration is vigorous and convincing.

        At St. Dominic's, Stephen Greenfield, younger brother of Oliver, a leader of the Fifth, is mercilessly bullied by Loman and, through his malign influence, becomes involved with a crooked innkeeper. The climax is reached when Oliver is accused of the theft of an exam paper. It transpires the real culprit was the bullying Loman, a Sixth-Form prefect, against whom the Fifth are in a perpetual state of warfare. The moral is pointed with much embellishment of Christian preachings, and the 'stiff upper lip' is extolled as a virtue when Stephen is viciously beaten by Loman and one of the masters forbids Stephen to reveal the culprit. The story was an ideal vehicle for the teachings of the RTS who were trying to provide "wholesome elevating reading [and] to supplant some ... literature ... the injurious effects of which all ... deplore".

        Almost as a form of shock therapy, the publication of Stalky & Co., with its subversion and disregard of authority, by contrast with the conformity and obedience that had been central to all boys' stories up to this time, seemed to show a different picture of school life. Despite this, the book is still one in which the eponymous heroes were being prepared for the Imperialistic life - as demonstrated in the final chapter in which Stalky, employing the wiles learnt at school, expands the Indian Empire that little bit farther. Like Tom Brown and Eric, Stalky & Co. is largely autobiographical. Kipling had been sent home from India, as was common, to avoid the excesses of climate. After a disastrous period with foster parents, he was sent to United Services College. This he initially hated, but later, despite the bullyings, came to love. As Beetle, Kipling is the authorial voice describing his own experiences up to and including entering the Indian Telegraph Service. Throughout, the book is full of allusion to the imperialistic military life, which, after all, was the raison d'être of the school in preparing youth for its Country's service. However, there is not the self-deluding 'idealism' of many of Kipling's contemporaries, although he was one of the archetypal supporters of the ideals of an Empire that considered it an Englishman's duty to educate the rest of the world.

        The foregoing, very brief, history of the school story from its beginnings to the end of the nineteenth century, serves to lead into a short discussion of boys' papers and the Harmsworth Press (one of the most prolific publishing houses in this business), which was soon to enter the field of boys' papers and, for many years, to lead this field with the Magnet. Perhaps at this juncture it is apposite to point out the difference between comics and children's papers. The former contain stories that are told in picture and cartoon; the latter have the printed word predominating, with some illustrations.

        Lofts & Adley suggest that Gabriel Varden, in Dombey & Son, gives the impression of the existence of boys' papers in 1775, when he says, referring to Simon Tappertit's behaviour, "I suppose that's out of The 'Prentice's Garland', or The 'Prentice's Delight', or The 'Prentice's Warbler' - or some such improving textbook". However, records no longer exist to support, or refute, this suggestion, and it seems more likely that Varden is referring to the didactic books (both secular and moralistic) produced by publishers and booksellers like John Newberry, in the late 1760's, rather than a periodical published for boys.

        The first boys' paper appears to have been "The Young Gentleman's Magazine" which ran for seven numbers only. It was an educational journal and made no pretence at readers' enjoyment. Weekly papers became commoner, until, from the 1830's, the number available rose considerably. Most were educational and all had a strong religious content; although there were no school stories in the early days.

        The first of the papers stigmatized as 'Penny Dreadfuls' appeared in 1866, probably with Boys of England, which ran for 1700 issues until 1899. These publications purveyed "weird fantasies of macabre violence". Many contained school stories which, unlike later stories of the genre that concentrated largely on 'public schools', did feature all types - from charity to public school. They become, as Talbot Baines Reed said, "A literary institution [because] a taste, more or less disguised, for the terrible is within us." These school stories were modelled, albeit crudely, on Tom Brown's Schooldays but there was neither the moral nor didactic content. Many stories were of bullying, cruelty, and flogging. Samways almost certainly 'borrowed' Dr Birchemall, headmaster of St. Sam's, from Birchem's Academy, and used this absurd character as a parody of the 'Penny Dreadfuls'. This ploy would certainly have met with Lord Northcliffe's approval since he had unashamedly engineered the downfall of these papers with his own children's department at the Harmsworth Press.

        Harmsworth's first boys' paper with a strong school story content was Marvel, in which a future major character in the Magnet, Hurree Jamset Ram Singh, was to make his first appearance at another Hamiltonian school, Netherby (before transferring himself to Greyfriars).

        Rollington's reminiscences about the old boys' papers dealt only with publishers who flourished from the mid-1860's to the 1890's - Beeton, Brett, and Emmett - who were to publish many school stories in their papers. Nonetheless, his highly coloured and fictionalized 'History' lists some of the publications that were available then, and serves to underline the sheer number of them - even by that date.

        From modest beginnings, Alfred Harmsworth was to build an empire which, had it failed, would have been "one of the biggest failures ever known." However, as he, himself said, "The word fail is not in my vocabulary," and his desire for the power that money would bring; his ability to manipulate people; his ruthlessness in the pursuit of his goals, were such that he eventually, not only founded The Daily Mail, but also became the owner of The Times. In four biographies studied there is no mention of the most successful of the children's papers he produced. Comic Cuts,  was the first in a long line of such papers. This he cynically saw as appealing to the taste of errand-boys and was a comic that he thought "would contribute nothing to their moral tone." His first essay into this genre of publishing was unashamedly 'borrowed' from another comic, Ally Sloper, and used the slogan "Amusing Without Being Vulgar". Despite Northcliffe's view of the paper, it sold 118,864 copies of the first number, due to advance publicity in another of Harmsworth's papers, Answers. Whatever the standard, there is no doubt this paper was instrumental in 'killing off' the Penny Dreadfuls, and eventually led to his publishing house producing many children's papers and comics over the years, of which none was to be as popular as the Magnet. Lofts & Adley list 73 boys' papers published by AP, out of a total of 365 for both boys and girls published by all houses until 1969, although many of them did not survive long. In all areas of children's periodicals AP was, over the years, to publish 187 out of a grand total of 767.

        After a variety of papers that had varying degrees of success, Harmsworth's first 'blockbuster' school story paper was the Gem which first appeared on 16th March 1907. After an initial poor reception due to the alternating of adventure and school stories, it concentrated on school stories alone, and, such was its success that, within a year, the managing editor, Griffiths, launched another, similar, paper - the Magnet. It would have seemed surprising to some (had they known it), but the writer of the weekly full-length story for both these papers was to be the same man. In the Gem, he was already known as Martin Clifford, while in the Magnet, he would become world renowned as Frank Richards; a name he eventually would come to prefer to his own.