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 Richmal Crompton Lamburn was born on 15 November 1890 on the outskirts of Bury, Lancashire, the second child of a clergyman, the Reverend Edward John Sewell Lamburn, and his wife Clara (née Crompton).
Although a staunch Anglican throughout her life, Richmal had a strong interest in mysticism and the supernatural and this is reflected in a number of her works, being burlesqued in the William books and treated seriously in her weird tales, Mist and Other Stories (1928) and The House (1926; Dread Dwelling in the US, 1926).
Richmal had William express a fascination with ghosts. ‘I can think [William],’ went on meditatively, ‘of quite a lot of people I’d like to haunt when I’m dead – ole Markie [his headmaster] an’ Farmer Jenks an’ people like that. It’d be more fun being a ghost than anythin’ – even a pirate.’
‘I dunno,’ said Douglas, ‘they can’t eat . . .’
In 1923 Richmal was struck with polio. Teaching proved a strain because of her condition and so she gave it up to concentrate on her writing – William had been born in 1919.
The William stories were originally written for adults and published in Home Magazine and the Happy Mag. Twelve of the stories, collected in book form and published by George Newnes in 1922 as Just William, were aimed at the juvenile market.
The style of Crompton's work has been compared to that of PG Wodehouse. [edit]
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