Richmal Crompton

Biography

Richmal Crompton Lamburn (1890–1969) was an English writer best known for her Just William series, one of the most popular and enduring works of children’s fiction in English. Born in Bury, Lancashire, Crompton studied at Royal Holloway College, University of London, and became a classics teacher before contracting poliomyelitis in 1923, which ended her teaching career and led her to write full-time. She published her first William story in 1919, and the first collection, Just William, appeared in 1922. Over the next five decades she produced thirty-nine William books, following the adventures of the irrepressible, grubby, eleven-year-old William Brown and his gang of Outlaws as they wreak havoc in their English village. The William stories are characterized by superb comic writing, gentle social satire, and an unfailing sympathy for the anarchic energy of childhood. Crompton also wrote over forty novels for adults, mostly exploring the domestic lives of middle-class English women, but it is William who secured her literary immortality. The Just William books have sold over nine million copies and have been continuously in print since 1922.