THE SCHOOLGIRLS' OWN ANNUALS

by SYLVIA REED

These superb, beautifully illustrated annuals were published by The Amalgamated Press, the years 1923 until 1941. The page content of these annuals were approximately 224. .  The paper used in these annuals is very smooth, and pleasing to touch. It is important that people of today know what people of yesterday read, especially children.  The illustrations are extremely superb.  A lot of the illustrators are, however, unknown, which is a shame.  Whether it was their intent to remain anonymous is unknown.

The 1929 annual is featured here.  This is the first Annual in the series of SGOL Annuals.

The Schoolgirls’ Own Annual 1929

Some illustrations were signed by the artist, others were unknown.  In the featured annual here, artists were G M Dodshon,  ? Mills, W Barnes, Savile Lumley, presumably Leonard Shields for all, or nearly all, of the Morcove stories and articles, B Hutchinson, T E Laidler, B W (Initials only), W T (Initials only).  Morcove School is the main theme of The Schoolgirls’ Own Annual

The contents pages are a work in themselves.  Fine drawings by contributing artists scaled right down to fit into the artwork. 

Flaxwell’s Folly is the feature Morcove story of this Annual. SGOL The girls of Morcove are preparing for a fund raiser for the Barncombe Hospital Building Fund.  Fay is rather a nice girl, however because she is rather spoilt and pampered shee thinks she is a ‘station above’ the other girls in the Fourth. Fay lives with her wealthy widowed Mother in one of the best houses Barncombe, and is a day girl.  Fay decides to take more than a leading role in the Fourth Form’s contribution to the Building Fund, and as this story unfolds, she is made to realise that she has taken on more than she can handle, and that she must rely on the other girls whom she has previously derided to help her out of her fix.  Typically, Cora Grandways and Cissy Norton make as much trouble as they can.

There are four colour plates in the Annual.  This is one of them, entitled ‘Mutual Envy!’ by Ben Hutchinson. An important topic, perhaps.  The schoolgirls are envious of the circus girl, with her circus life and ‘freedom’.  The circus girl is envious of the schoolgirls, probably because they are in the stable environment of a good school, and haven’t reached the point in life where they have to worry about working, and maybe never will need to.

Before the days of television, computers, play stations and the like, people in the 1920’s had to rely on making their own fun.  Therefore there were lots of amateur theatricals, and sing songs around the piano.  Throughout the series of The Schoolgirls’ Own Annuals, there were songs written by Marjorie Stanton, and the actual music by Margery Mason.  There doesn’t seem to be any reference to Margery Mason, so we don’t know a lot about his or her background.  I mention ‘his’ because the stable of writers for The Amalgamated Press childrens stories were mainly men.  Quite a lot has been written about this, so I won’t enlarge on that subject here.

The Girl Guides movement in the 1920’s was very strong.  A strong feature of the Girl Guides was to develop the character, to help others in need, to become independent although still be a part of the ‘Team’  Some girls were sent to join the Girl Guides in an effort to stamp out undesirable traits in their personalities.  Camping was a very popular pastime.

Holiday Hints

Girls of today are really no different to yesterday.  There is still the eternal problem of deciding what to pack, and how all of the gear is going to fit into the suitcase!

The Schoolgirls’ Own  is the weekly paper that began in 1921.  A full page at the back of the annual heralded this paper.  Morcove School is the main feature of The Schoolgirl’s Own.  Hence The Schoolgirls’ Own Annual.

Lalla’s Little Way is a beautifully illustrated story. These pictures by an unknown illustrator, depicts how schoolgirls look in 1929.  The story is about Dot Sherwood, who enters for the Dacre Scholarship.  Winning this Scholarship means that she will be able to remain at the school she loves. Dot is also a fine hockey player.  Lalla Hume, who is the captain of the Form helps Dot achieve her ambition.  There are many obstacles in the way before the fine ending of this story.

The Jewel of Asia  This story is set in India, during the the British Raj era.   British people in India usually sent their children ‘home’ to England for their education.  Patricia and Phyllis Dering, daughters of Colonel Dering are about to leave India to go to a Finishing School, mainly in this case, due to the health of one of the sisters.  The girls want to go out riding, however their father has heard of a scoundrel’s re-appearance in the area where they live, and he is hesitant about allowing them to go.  However, they do go, they do encounter the scoundrel, unmask his plots, and are praised ‘I think you’ve done something, daughters, that will live for ever in the history of India’ the girls’ father exclaims at the end of the story.

As mentioned previously, the main ‘theme’ of The Schoolgirls’ Own Annuals is Morcove School.  There are several articles interspersed throughout the book, - little gossipy articles - what the classrooms are like; how homework is a drag; fun at picnics; interraction with Grangemoor School, hampers from home; the list goes on and it is almost addictive!