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Rookwood in the Schoolboys' Own Library
Of the 411 issues of the Schoolboys' Own Library 53 were Rookwood tales, mainly reprinted from the Boys' Friend. For the 1955 CD Annual Gerry Allison wrote an article "Restoring Order at Rookwood" containing a list of all the SOL Rookwood tales and their origin. He even produces a list of recommended reading order. You can read the article here. The number in brackets after the title in the table below indicates Gerry's suggested reading order.
The following list contains all the Rookwood stories published in Schoolboys' Own Library. Click on the link to read or download the individual issues.
| Cover | Issue & Year |
Title and suggested
reading order (In brackets) |
School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 6 1925 |
The Captain of the Fourth (06) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 785, 788-791 1916 |
 |
Issue 12 1925 |
Expelled (08) | Rookwood |
Boy's Friend 801-805 1916 |
 |
Issue 20 1926 |
The Vanished Schoolboys (18) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 906-908, 910-911 1918 |
 |
Issue 28 1926 |
Boy who was Soft, The (20) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 929-933 1919 |
 |
Issue 32 1926 |
Schoolboy's Temptation, A (14) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 843-847 1917 |
 |
Issue 36 1926 |
Shadow of Shame, The (16) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 882-886 1918 |
 |
Issue 42 1926 |
Boy from Nowhere, The (24) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 969, 971-974 1920 |
 |
Issue 48 1927 |
The Colonial Co. (10) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 812-814, 819-820 1916 |
 |
Issue 60 1927 |
Scapegrace of Rookwood, The (26) | Rookwood |
Boy's Friend 996-999, 1001 1920 |
 |
Issue 68 1928 |
Sir Japhet's Heir (25) | Rookwood |
Boy's Friend 981-986 1920 |
 |
Issue 76 1928 |
Fighting Form-Master, The (27) | Rookwood |
Boy's Friend 1030-1033,1037-1040, 1921 |
 |
Issue 84 1928 |
Chums on Tramp (32) | Rookwood |
Boy's Friend 1103-1110 1922 |
 |
Issue 94 1929 |
Rookwood Rebellion, The (29) | Rookwood |
Boy's Friend 1074-1077, 1079-1082 1922 |
 |
Issue 100 1929 |
His Own Enemy (43) | Rookwood |
Rookwood Substitute Story by KE Newman
Originally published as a second story in Gem |
 |
Issue 104 1929 |
Dropped from the Team (31) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 1094-1100 1922 |
 |
Issue 108 1929 |
Facing the Music (15) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 484-489, 853-855 1917 |
 |
Issue 112 1929 |
For the Honour of Rookwood (34) | Rookwood |
Rookwood Substitute Story by JN
Pentelow Originally
published as a second story in Gem |
 |
Issue 118 1930 |
Jimmy Joins Up (01) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 715-718 1915 |
 |
Issue 124 1930 |
Gunner Gets Going (30) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 1089-1093, 1101-1102 1922 |
 |
Issue 128 1930 |
Backing Up Jimmy (02) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 723-726 1915 |
 |
Issue 132 1930 |
Under False Colours (33) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 1112-1118 1922 |
 |
Issue 138 1930 |
Ghost of the Priory, The (35) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 1125-1132 1921 |
 |
Issue 146 1930 |
Jimmy Silver and Co. Out West (37) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 1140-1145 1921 |
 |
Issue 150 1931 |
Pals of the Ranges (38) | Rookwood |
Boys' Friend 1152-1155 1923 |
 |
Issue 154 1931 |
The War Trail (39) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1161-1165 1921 |
 |
Issue 158 1931 |
Chums of the Ranch (40) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1169-1174 1923 |
 |
Issue 162 1931 |
Trailing the Phantom (41) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1175-1180 1923 |
 |
Issue 166 1932 |
The Fourth Form Rebels (42) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1183-88, 1191 1923 |
 |
Issue 170 1932 |
Prefects on Strike (21) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 935-941 1919 |
 |
Issue 174 1932 |
Living a Lie (28) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1043-1051 1921 |
 |
Issue 182 1932 |
The Terror of Rookwood (03) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 743-748 1915 |
 |
Issue 198 1933 |
The Rookwood Secret Society (51) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1009, 1011 (Sub) 1920 |
 |
Issue 202 1933 |
The Rookwood Gipsies (17) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 891-96, 898-899 1918 |
 |
Issue 206 1933 |
Masters on Strike (19) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 920-924, 928 1919 |
 |
Issue 220 1934 |
Son of a Cracksman (13) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 831, 833-837 1917 |
 |
Issue 226 1934 |
The Fifth Form Rebellion (50) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1246-1252 1925 |
 |
Issue 262 1936 |
The Fistical Four (04) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 769-772, 774-776 1916 |
 |
Issue 268 1936 |
The Rookwood Barring-In (05) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 778-783 1916 |
 |
Issue 272 1936 |
Taming the Bully (07) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 785-789 1916 |
 |
Issue 278 1936 |
Follow Uncle James (12) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 787, 794-96 1916 |
 |
Issue 284 1936 |
Jimmy Silver’s Christmas Party (09) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 809-11/16/17 1916 |
 |
Issue 296 1937 |
The Fourth Form at Rookwood (11) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 821/2/4/5 1917 |
 |
Issue 308 1937 |
Jimmy Silver Resigns (22) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 944-949 1919 |
 |
Issue 317 1937 |
No Good as Captain (23) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 951,953-6, 958/9 1919 |
 |
Issue 335 1938 |
Under False Colours (44) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1201-1204 1924 |
 |
Issue 341 1938 |
On Fighting Terms (36) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1133-1136 1922 |
 |
Issue 347 1938 |
Chums on the Open Road (45) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1211-1218 1924 |
 |
Issue 356 1938 |
The Boy Who Walked by Night (47) | Rookwood |
Gems 1449-1459 (Serial) 1935 |
 |
Issue 362 1939 |
Manders on the Spot (49) | Rookwood |
Gems 1460-1469 (Serial) 1936 |
 |
Issue 368 1939 |
Rookwood Calling (46) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1219-1225 1924 |
 |
Issue 380 1939 |
The Rookwood Raggers (52) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1255-6 1925 |
 |
Issue 389 1939 |
Rival Guys of Rookwood (48) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1272-1274 1924 |
 |
Issue 392 1939 |
The Sneak of Rookwood (53) | Rookwood |
Boy’s Friends 1275-1283 1925 |
Cedar Creek in the Schoolboys' Own Library.
The stories of Cedar Creek purported to be of Frank Richard's schooldays in Canada as told by his good friend Martin Clifford. Frank's Father had lost all his money forcing Frank to go and live with his Uncle in Canada.
The 1953 Collectors' Digest Annual featured an article by Leonard Packman that introduced us to the characters of Cedar Creek, you can read the article here.
The Cedar Creek stories must rate as the most reprinted of all Hamilton stories. Of the 205 stories printed in the Boys' Friend 201 were reprinted in the Penny Popular and 64 in the Gem. Selections were reprinted in 9 copies of the Boys' Friend Library and in 3 numbers of the Schoolboys' Own Library. Also, reprinted stories appeared in The Holiday Annual for the years 1924, 1926, 1938 and 1941.
| Cover | Issue & Year | Title | School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 142 1931 |
Chums of the Backwoods | Cedar Creek |
Boys' Friend 847 Et Seq 1917 |
 |
Issue 178 1932 |
The Outcast of Cedar Creek | Cedar Creek |
Boys' Friend 866 Et Seq 1918 |
 |
Issue 184 1932 |
On the Western Trail | Cedar Creek |
Boys' Friend 897 Et Seq 1918 |
Len Lex in the Schoolboys' Own Library
Len Lex was a schoolboy detective from Oakshott school who appeared briefly in the Modern boy in 1936/37.
| Cover | Issue & Year | Title | School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 353 1938 |
The Schoolboy ‘Tec | Oakshott |
Modern Boy 452-456 1936 |
 |
Issue 371 1939 |
Asking for the Sack | Oakshott |
Modern Boy 479-484 1937 |
Grimslade in the Schoolboys' Own Library
Issue 1/80 of the Ranger introduced the Fourth Form at Grimslade. The school was situated on the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire and the two houses (White's and Redmayes') were intended to echo the war of the Roses.
Issue 2/1 of the Ranger saw the return of the boys of Grimslade in "The Cheerio Castaways". This time the action had moved to the Pacific. Reminiscent of an earlier Edwy Searles Brooks story the boys of Grimslade and their Master are stranded on a remote island in the Pacific.
Very little appeared in the Collectors Digest on Grimslade, all I could find was one of Roger Jenkins 'Do You Remember' articles covering the Schoolboys Own Library issue 232. You can read the article here.
| Cover | Issue & Year | Title | School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 232 1934 |
The Rebel of Grimslade | Grimslade |
The Ranger (Series 1, issues 80-130) 1931-1933 |
 |
Issue 238 1935 |
The Fourth Form at Grimslade | Grimslade |
The Ranger (Series 1, issues 80-130) 1931-1933 |
 |
Issue 242 1935 |
Sammy the Boy Tamer | Grimslade |
The Ranger (Series 1, issues 80-130) 1931-1933 |
 |
Issue 248 1935 |
High Jinks at Grimslade | Grimslade |
The Ranger (Series 1, issues 80-130) 1931-1933 |
 |
Issue 252 1935 |
The Cheerio Castaways | Grimslade |
The Ranger (Series 2 issues 1-47) 1933-1935 |
 |
Issue 254 1935 |
Chums of Castaway Island | Grimslade |
The Ranger (Series 2 issues 1-47) 1933-1935 |
 |
Issue 256 1935 |
The Grimslade Crusoes | Grimslade |
The Ranger (Series 2 issues 1-47) 1933-1935 |
School for Slackers (High Coombe) in the Schoolboys' Own Library.
In 1935 Hamilton created yet another school - High Coombe - the school for Slackers. High Coombe was a slack school, the Head was slack, the Masters were slack and as a consequence the boys were slack. They had no interest in education or games, the most important thing for them was the cut of their bags!
When the Headmaster retired the Governors decide not to promote from within but to to bring in a new Head master, a young man by the name of McCann. It isn't an easy job, Masters and pupils are both against change but he does make progress.
The stories were first published in the Modern Boy in 1935.
| Cover | Issue & Year | Title | School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 290 1937 |
The School for Slackers | High Coombe |
Modern Boy 371-380 1935 |
 |
Issue 299 1937 |
The Live Wire Head | High Coombe |
Modern Boy 384-393 1935 |
St Kit's in the Schoolboys' Own Library.
In 1922 H. A. Hinton launched a new publication 'School and Sport' and persuaded Hamilton to write for it. Hamilton created St Kit's School and wrote a total of 200,000 words (The equivalent of around 13 Magnets of the period) under the pen name of Clifford Clive. Hamilton received praise from Hinton but no no cash so refused to write any more for this publication half way through a barring out story. A Sub, possibly Hinton himself had to write the closing chapters. As Hamilton had never been paid for the stories he retained copyright so was able to sell them to the Amalgamated Press for publication in the Boys' Friend (September 1924 - May 1925). Note - this is a different St Kit's from that featured in the Pluck of 1907.
| Cover | Issue & Year | Title | School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 64 1927 |
Parted Chums | St Kit's |
School and
Sport issue 1 School and Sport issue 2 |
 |
Issue 70 1927 |
The Boy Who Found His Father | St Kit's |
School and
Sport issue 3 School and Sport issue 4 |
 |
Issue 136 1930 |
Who Shall be Captain | St Kit's |
School and
Sport issue 5 School and Sport issue 6 |
 |
Issue 188 1933 |
Up, The Rebels | St Kit's |
School and
Sport issue 7 School and Sport issue 8 School and Sport issue 6 |
Packsaddle in the Schoolboys' Own Library.
The Gem of 1935 had little in the way of original material. Following a long period of substitute St Jims stories the Gem had turned to reprinting stories from the early blue Gem. It must have came as a surprise to the readers when Gem issue 1403 announced that a new school series by Frank Richards would appear in a fortnights time. Two weeks later in issue 1405 Packsaddle school made it's first appearance. Packsaddle was a school with a difference - it was located in Santana County in Texas.
For the 1958 Collectors Digest Annual Ronald Hodgson wrote an detailed article on Packsaddle. You can read it on page 50-55 here.
| Cover | Issue & Date | Title | School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 305 1937 |
The Packsaddle Bunch! | Packsaddle |
Gem 1405-1434 1935 |
 |
Issue 323 1938 |
The Six-Gun Schoolmaster! | Packsaddle |
Gem 1405-1434 1935 |
 |
Issue 329 1938 |
The Rebellion of Packsaddle! | Packsaddle |
Gem 1405-1434 1935 |
St Dorothy's in the Schoolboys' Own Library.
St Dorothy's first appeared in the Boys Realm in 1909-10. The serial 'Redfern Minor' appeared in issues 1/370-391 and the follow up 'Arthur Redfern's Vow' appeared in issues 1/391-404. The stories were abridged and reprinted in the 1920 Boys Friend Library issues 1/479 as "Redfern Minor" and 1/494 as "Arthur Redfern's Vow" before appearing in the SOL.
| SOL | Issue & Date | Title | School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 192 1933 |
For His Brother's Sake! | St Dorothy's |
Boys Realm 1/370 - 391 1909-10 |
 |
Issue 194 1933 |
The Captain's Enemy | St Dorothy's |
Boys Realm 1/391 - 404 1910 |
Greyfriars and St Jim's in the Schoolboys' Own Library.
Very few Greyfriars and St Jim's SOLs have been scanned as all the Greyfriars and most of the St Jim's stories are available in the original format in the Magnet and Gem sections. Many of the SOL versions were badly edited so I would suggest you read them in their original format if available.
| Cover | Issue & Date | Title | School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 80 1928 |
D'Arcy's Cricket Week | St Jim's |
Gem 123-124 1910 |
 |
Issue 224 1934 |
Handforth of St Jim's (ESB) | St Jim's |
Gem 1059-1060, 1062 1928 |
 |
Issue 240 1935 |
Tom Merry's Enemy (Stanley Austin) | St Jim's |
Gem 985-987 1927 |
 |
Issue 245 1935 |
Down with the Tyrant | Greyfriars |
Magnet 1169-1171 1930 |
 |
Issue 260 1936 |
The Stick at Nothing Schoolboys | St Jim's |
Gem 828-831 1923 |
Non Hamilton stories in the Schoolboys' Own Library.
Material by Charles Hamilton and Edwy Searles Brooks featured in most of the issues but other writers did occasionally contribute.
Brooks now has a section to himself. You can find it here
| SOL | Issue & Date | Title | School | Source & Date |
 |
Issue 10 1925 |
Jolly Roger's Way Michael Poole |
St Katie's | Boys Friend ? |
|
|
Issue 16 1925 |
Rebellion at St Biddies Michael Poole |
St Biddies | Boys Friend ? |
 |
Issue 24 1926 |
Wake Up, Katies Michael Poole |
St Katie's | Gem ? |
 |
Issue 40 1926 |
The Mystery Schoolboy Ernest Protheroe |
Boys Friend? ? | |
|
|
Issue 44 1926 |
The Devices of Dicky Dexter Michael Poole |
Gem ? | |
 |
Issue 52 1926 |
Under Roger's Rule Michael Poole |
St Katie's | Gem ? |
 |
Issue 58 1927 |
The Butt of
the School Michael Poole |
St Katie's | Gem ? |
 |
Issue 74 1928 |
The Blot of Berrisford Michael Poole |
Berrisford | Boys' Magazine |
 |
Issue 78 1928 |
The Tanglewood Twins Ernest Protheroe |
Boys Friend ? | |
 |
Issue 82 1928 |
The Schoolboy Scientist Michael Poole |
St Katie's | BM ? |
 |
Issue 86 1928 |
The Conspirators of St Katies Michael Poole |
St Katies | Gem ? |
 |
Issue 92 1929 |
The Freak at St Freda's G. E. Rochester |
St Freda's | Pop 2/423-424 |
 |
Issue 96 1929 |
Berrisford's Liveliest Term Michael Poole |
Berrisford | Boys' Magazine |
 |
Issue 114 1929 |
The Kid at St
Katie's Michael Poole |
St Katie's |
Gem Date ? |
 |
Issue 156 1932 |
The Worst
Form at Codrington
David Goodwin |
Codrington |
Gem 1126-1143 (Serial) 1929 |
 |
Issue 266 1936 |
Chums of Toppingham! John Lance |
Toppingham | Boys Friend Circa 1927 |
 |
Issue 377 1939 |
The School Squadron! Eric Roche |
Selborough | Modern Boy |
 |
Issue 398 1940 |
Told in the Tuckshop! John Berresford |
Modern Boy |