Raymond Sheppard and a few snow scenes!

Boy's Own Paper December 1957, p.22

I've shown some Christmas, and snow scenes previously, and was wondering what to show you next. This time I started by looking for snow scenes and tripped over a couple in Boy's Own Paper. That led to this group of published images.

In Boy's Own Paper (December 1957 we have a story called "Valley of the Bear" by John Bancroft. Page 22 has the caption "Rearing on its haunches it struck out violently, all the power of nearly half a ton of bone, muscle and flesh behind the blow". Raymond Sheppard shows his command of animal drawing here, with the bear drawing back its lips in a snarl while rearing over the two men in snow, its feet planted firmly apart. It's interesting how the Art Editor has added the border to the text and run it through the artwork.

John Bancroft wrote quite a few stories and articles for Boy's Own Paper, and was even quoted as "John Bancroft of the "Boy's Own Paper" on the covers of at least two of his books. It appears he was born in 1912 and died in 1996. A blurb found online states:

John Bancroft lives in Devon. He is a regular writer for Boy's Own Paper, is an experienced reviewer of books for young people, and has written many radio scripts for the B.B.C. He specialises in adventure stories for teenagers, particularly boys, and has further books in preparation.

I searched the BBC Radio Times listings but couldn't find a "J. Bancroft" or "John Bancroft" listed and then became suspicious. That led me to searching every way I know and then I found the answer. I really should start all searches on my friend Steve Holland's BearAlley blog. John Bancroft was none other than Alan C. Jenkins who wrote an awful lot for BOP.

Here is a partial bibliography of his works under that pseudonym, John Bancroft. 
 

• Guardian of Honour, (Illustrated by Grace Huxtable), London: Macmillan & Co, 1961.
• The Ring of Truth (Illustrated by Grace Huxtable), London: Macmillan & Co, 1962.
• The Borodin Affair, London:Epworth Press, 1966
   
• "The Nelson Touch" The Boy’s Own Paper May 1955
• "The Ring o’ Bells", The Boy’s Own Paper December 1955
• "Kaarpa the Ermine",The Boy’s Own Paper March 1956
• "The Easter Egg" (Competition Story), The Boy’s Own Paper April 1956
• "Spring Comes to Dartmoor", The Boy’s Own Paper May 1956
• "The Easter Egg" (Competition Results), The Boy’s Own Paper July 1956
• "The Orang-utan Run", Parts 1, 2 and 3 The Boy’s Own Paper September - November 1956
  
• "Lets Watch Seals", The Boy’s Own Paper May 1957
• "Arrears of Rent", The Boy’s Own Paper September 1957
• "Plot the course of Roaring Stags", The Boy’s Own Paper October 1957
• [Unknown] , The Boy’s Own Paper August 1958
  
• [Unknown] , The Boy’s Own Paper February & November 1959
  "Guardian of Honour, The Boy’s Own Paper December 1959
• [Unknown] , The Boy’s Own Paper February 1960
• [Unknown] , The Boy’s Own Paper Jan & Aug 1961
• "The Borodin Affair, The Boy’s Own Paper February 1965
  

As we are talking about John Bancroft, here's another story by him illustrated by Sheppard (no snow this time!)

Boy's Own Paper September 1957, p.42-43

 "Arrears of Rent", appeared in Boy’s Own Paper September 1957 issue and shows "The vixen swept in snarling towards the badger's formidable jaws". The badger is defending a dead rabbit against the fox. Again we see here a naturalist's eye and Sheppard too has that perfect knowledge of animals and their individual characteristics.

Let's move onto another author

Boy's Own Paper February 1958 pp.18-19

Boy's Own Paper of February 1958 has a story illustrated by Raymond Sheppard "The Moon of the Crusted Snow" by Eric Acland. Captioned "The voice of his rifle brought an avalanche of whiteness" it shows am Obijwe hunter in a beaver-skin hat shooting at four foxes who are after a fallen deer in the snow.

One of Acland's early books lists him as a "writer and lecturer on military history". He has  the rank of Captain when writing the 1937 "Princess Elizabeth". St. Andrews College (of Aurora, Ontario) in-house journal in 1944 says:

"Lieut. -Col.  Eric  Acland,  E.D.  ('l9-'20 [sic?])  has  been  appointed  a  Deputy Director  of  Military  Intelligence  in  charge  of  a  special  wing  at  National  Defence Headquarters,  Ottawa.  He  has  served  overseas  on  special  duty  and  prior  to  the war  was  on  the  editorial  staff  of  The  [Toronto] Evening  Telegram"

In 1946 they also mention, in the old boy's section: "Lt.-Col.  Eric  Acland  ('19-'24),  since 1944 Deputy Director of Military Intelligence at National Defence Headquarters, has now  retired  from  the  army". But it didn't last long as in the same journal in 1953: "Lt.-Col.  Eric  Acland  ('19-'24)  has  been  elected  Vice-President  of  the Canadian  Military  Intelligence  Association". A 1933 publication published a poem and cited it was taken from "Regimental Journal of the South Wales Borderers, and is reproduced from ‘‘Bugle Notes" by Eric Acland".

I also learned that 

"in 1940 under Lieutenant Eric Acland, [M13 was set up] its main concern was counter-espionage and security with respect to Army personnel and classified information. It maintained close liaison with U.S. Military Intelligence (G-2), British Security Coordination, and Britain’s MI 5. Its primary job was to keep aggressive watch on Canadian soldiers of suspected subversive backgrounds or intentions"

There is also an Eric Acland in the Aylmer, Quebec area, as Wikipedia lists him as a "pre-amalgamation Mayor" from 1965–1967. Eric Acland married in August 1968 to Lois Jennings Edwards at  Aylmer, Quebec. I wondered cautiously if I was looking at two men but I'm sure the later short stories certainly reflect the same sensibilities as the Boy's Own story from 1958.

ERIC ACLAND BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Long Live the King; George V--King and Emperor; Prince and Sovereign--Edward VIII by Eric Acland and Ernest Henry Bartlett. Toronto: John C. Winston. 1936
• The House of Windsor, George V to George VI. by Eric Acland and Ernest H. Bartlett. Toronto: John C. Winston Company, [1937]
• The Princess Elizabeth.by Eric Acland. Toronto: John C. Winston Company [1937]
  
• The House of Windsor : George V to George Vi Royal tour ed. by Eric Acland and Ernest Henry Bartlett. Toronto: Dominion Book and Bible House., 1939
• "The Girl With the Teal Blue Eyes" in Maclean's 15 October 1949
  
• A Tour of Historic Aylmer Quebec = Un Voyage Au Passé Historique D'aylmer.  by Eric Acland and Aylmer and District Arts Association. 1966. 
• Adventure Westward (illustrations by Merle Smith). Camden N.J: T. Nelson. 1967
• Drums of Niagara; an Adventure Story of Early Canada Toronto: T. Nelson (Canada). 1967
• Christ-Church Aylmer-Quebec 1843-1968 by Eric Acland and Don Ritchie.1967
• "Man-Gods Visit Little Mountain" in Boy's Life August 1969
  
• "Twenty Feathers" in Boy's Life May 1971
• "Christmas Bells" in Boy's Life December 1971
• "Windigo of Greed" in Boy's Life February 1972
• "Wings of Spring" in Boy's Life  June 1973
• "Maheengun, My Brother" in Boy's Life August 1974 
• "The Poacher Hunt" in Boy's Life March 1976

The mystery is sort of solved in the 23 August 1982 issue of Maclean's magazine. Julie Van Dusen's tragic report tells us that the unfortunate Acland, on a regular visit to the Old General Store in Aylmer, the town of which he was voted mayor twice, met a belligerent policeman who pushed him, leading to his hospitalisation at the age of 76 and his subsequent death after 45 days. So we now know he was born c.1906 and died 1982. A tragic story considering how Boy's Life presented one of his stories in 1971 (May):

To read a story by Eric Acland ("Twenty Feathers," page 28) is to know that he knows whereof he writes, so it's hardly surprising to learn that his varied and distinguished career in the service of our neighbor to the northly surprising to learn that his varied and distinguished career in the service of out neighbor to the north includes more Iban a decade as senior administrative officer of Canada's Department of Indian Affairs. During World War II Colonel Acland was his country's deputy director of military intelligence, in charge of counter-intelligence operations. He resigned his government post in 1963 to devote his time to writing—which had been his profession prior to World War 11—and is the author of two books. Drum of Niagara and Adventure Westward, both historical fiction for young people. "Man-Gods Visit Little Mountain" (August 1969) first introduced BL readers to the woods wisdom of Walks-Upright, the Ojibwa guide.

Raymond Sheppard and Boy's Own Paper and Keith Horan

Boy's Own Paper May 1956, pp.26-27

Back in 2012, I showed the colour cover and inside illustration from Boy's Own Paper of May 1955. The story "The Red Fear" by Keith Horan was about how tigers and even elephants stand aside when packs of red dogs roam on the Deccan Plateau of southern India. 

Today I want to concentrate on the other three stories written by Keith Horan and illustrated by Sheppard. 

The April 1957 issue of Boy's Own Paper has "Terror of the Air"; May 1956 we have "The Masked Terror", January 1958 the story "Guardian of the Water-Gate" and in the issue dated June 1958 we sadly have not only Sheppard's last work for Boy's Own Paper but also a tribute to him in the story "The Monarch of Silver Pool".  

The first "The Masked Terror" (see above illustration) has some superb writing, engaging the reader with horror, whilst teaching subversively about nature:

Nearly two inches in length, it had a long, pointed body, ringed and armoured and ending in a sort of spike. lts thorax was also armoured and from it protruded six legs.  The back of its head consisted mostly of two black, staring globes of eyes, and the front, where its face and mouth should have been, was covered by a smooth, featureless mask split down the middle and reaching down to its breast. This mask, a combination of the Inquisition and the Klu-KIux-Klan, gave the monster a ghastly look of blank, mysterious horror.

Such terrors are Horan's description of the hunting skills and the insatiable hunger of the dragonfly larva!

Boy's Own Paper April 1957, p.26

The second is called "Terror of the air" and again is a tale of a dragonfly, but this time in the Himalayas. Again a voracious eater who eats things larger than itself!

Boy's Own Paper January 1958, p.18

"Guardian of the Water-gate" (January 1958)  is about a family of muskrat and the attack by a mink, who apparently cannot hold their breath as long as a muskrat. In the final battle depicted above, the muskrat father kills the attacking mink. Again the writing is tense, descriptive without being gruesome. 

Boy's Own Paper June 1958, p.18-19

Lastly we have "The Monarch of the Silver Pool" - who is a twenty inch long trout. We follow his adventures as a fingerling being caught by a fisherman who wisely puts the little trout back. we then read about a boy tickling the trout until a Bailiff comes along. Finally, grown up and as a 'monarch', an otter comes along with four webbed feet and a strong tail and an agility that finally leads to the Monarch's demise. 

On Monday the 21 April 1958, Raymond Sheppard passed away. Jack Cox, the Editor of Boy's Own Paper at the time, wrote the above tribute (with a few minor questionable facts).  Nevertheless it looks as if he must have known Sheppard, for this is quite affectionate and the only tribute I have so far seen in the magazine.

Getting back to Horan, he has two stories in Young Elizabethan that I know of ("Anek's Tapek "mentioned here) which are illustrated by Sheppard and after extensive searching in bibliographies and on the net, I have drawn a blank beyond this. There are various Horans in genealogical databases and the Times has a note of the engagement and wedding of "Pamela Horan only daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Horan, late 43rd Light Infantry (Oxford & Buckinghamshire) and Mrs Guy Rickard of Liphook, Hants."  BUT I don't know if this is him.

If anyone knows more about Horan (what this a pseudonym?) and any details of his life - and why he wrote no books under that name! - please do get in touch.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

     Horan, Keith (fl. 1940s-1950s)

        * Men, Meal, and Memories, (ar) Blackwood’s Magazine May 1951, as by “Won-Tolla”
        * Fun and Game, (ss) Blackwood’s Magazine September 1951, as by “Won-Tolla”
        * Pictures in the Fire, (ss) Blackwood’s Magazine November 1951, as by “Won-Tolla”
        * The Letter, (ss) Britannia and Eve December 1951
        * Escape, (ss) Argosy (UK) April 1952
        * Stand By—Maternity Case!, (ss) John Bull December 5 1953
        * Kubosko, (ss) The Boy’s Own Paper June 1954
        *[Resurgam, The World's News, 20 Nov 1954]?
        * The Red Fear, (ss) The Boy’s Own Paper May 1955
        * My Friend Bunda, (ss) The Boy’s Own Paper August 1955
        * Death in the grass, The Boy's Own Paper, September 1955
        * The Masked Terror, (ss) The Boy’s Own Paper May 1956
        * Terror of the Air, (ss) The Boy’s Own Paper April 1957
        * Anek's Tapek by Keith Horan Young Elizabethan June 1957
        * Forests of the night, Young Elizabethan, January 1958
        * Guardian of the water-gate, The Boy’s Own Paper, January 1958
        * The Monarch of Silver Pool, The Boy’s Own Paper, June 1958
        * White Fury, (ss) The Boy’s Own Paper February 1961

Thanks to the invaluable FictionMags Index and my own added research

Other than this, he remains a very big mystery which is a shame as I really enjoyed reading his short stories of nature "in tooth and claw"!

Raymond Sheppard and Gunby Hadath (Part Two)

In the previous blog article I outlined Gunby Hadath's biography and showed a few of Raymond Sheppard's accompanying illustrations to his 6 part story which began in April 1940 edition of the Boy's Own Paper.

Here are the remainder of illustrations accompanying the story "In search of a kingdom" by Gunby Hadath spread over 6 months of Boy's Own Paper. It's interesting to note not only Sheppard's technique here (almost a negative of a scraperboard technique) but also the way in which the editor decided to wrap text around the images - something so much easier to do now in the age of computers, than back then! The full page wash of St. Bernard is incredible as it stands out in the whole run and considering paper shortages during the war gives testimony to the esteem in which Sheppard was held.

MAY 1940

Boy's Own Paper May 1940 p.357

"He dropped his hand on the gunwale of Michael's light skiff
 and tilted it forward to let the water pour in" 

Boy's Own Paper May 1940 p.358

"Glancing about as he went, he discerned de Bellecombe 

 seated by himself on a bench "

Boy's Own Paper May 1940 p.360-361

"They were joined by a forester who was leading a mule 

in the shafts of a two-wheeled cart"

Boy's Own Paper May 1940 p.366
Donkey and cart

JUNE 1940

Boy's Own Paper June 1940 p.406 
Greitmann leaned forward across the table. He looked straight at de Varges.
"I have no use for braggarts", he said

Boy's Own Paper June 1940 p.409
The brigand chief was leaning against that column,
with his arms folded, jeering at St Bernard

Boy's Own Paper June 1940 p.413
A man, with one arm twisted under him and unconscious

Boy's Own Paper June 1940 p.415
A St. Bernard dog

JULY 1940

Boy's Own Paper July 1940 p.439

"Above the town the ancient chateau was frowning"

Boy's Own Paper July 1940 p.444-445
" Even as the young chasseur bent his knees for the throw
Michael's arms were exerting a fierce downward pressure on his hip-bones"

Boy's Own Paper July 1940 p.447"Michael took the plunge. “I'm being chased, sir”, he said,
“by some scoundrels who want to get rid of me”" 

Boy's Own Paper July 1940 p.449"Colonel St. Armaund"

 AUGUST 1940

Boy's Own Paper August 1940 p.469" He had wrangled a lift with the baggage and slept like a top"

Boy's Own Paper August 1940 p.471"When Michael's turn came to slake his thirst from the gourd
he found the water quite warm"

Boy's Own Paper August 1940 p.474
"Dubois, Sergeant of Chasseurs"

Boy's Own Paper August 1940 p.477
"You refuse!" gasped Simon Greitmann"

SEPTEMBER 1940

Boy's Own Paper September 1940 p.494

"Here he was with the compartment to himself...while poor Antoine..." 

Boy's Own Paper September 1940 p.497

"The innkeeper bowed low as Michael came up"

Boy's Own Paper September 1940 p.498-499

" Numbers of them were shaking their fists as they screamed"

Boy's Own Paper September 1940 p.501

Although I have not found any more Gunby Hadath tales that Sheppard illustrated in Boy's Own Paper, Sheppard did illustrate a book, Blue Berets, and that raised an interesting issue.

I have a copy,  with no dustjacket, and remembered there were illustrations in it, but until looking at it for purposes of finishing this article, I had not realised - and there is no clue in the book - that this is in fact "In search of a kingdom", published one year later by Lutterworth (who at the time owned the Boy's Own Paper!
So I might as well list the differences and satisfy my complete cataloguing fetish!

BLUE BERETS

The following illustrations appear in the book on the following pages with their corresponding months in BOP:
Page 10: see April p.307
Page 48: (no caption) see May p.357
Pages 68-69: (no caption) see May p.360-361
Page 83: (no caption) see May p.366
Page 94: see June p.406
Page 142: Caption changed to "Above the town frowned the ancient chateau" see July p.442
Page 161: (no caption) see July p.447
Page 189: (no caption) see August p.474
Page 224: (no caption) see September p.494
Page 243: Caption changed to "It was Perigord, his host, white-headed and rubicund" see September p.497
Page 253: (no caption) see August p.469

Raymond Sheppard and Gunby Hadath

GUNBY HADATH (1871-1954)

Raymond Sheppard from Boy's Own Paper April 1940

In my first Sheppard blog article I showed a lovely colour cover by Sheppard of a charging tiger. I was wondering what to write about next and realised I haven't returned to Boy's Own Paper (BOP). Collecting magazines like BOP one starts to get to know artists very well but also author names (turn up again and again). One that appears a lot in the issues where Sheppard began illustrating is Gunby Hadath (1871–1954), or John Edward Gunby Hadath as he was christened. He also had pseudonyms, such as John Mowbray, Shepherd [or Shepperd] Pearson, James Duncan, and Felix O’Grady and was born in Owersby, Lincolnshire. Caistor, is also in one account but this is incorrect. However, both towns are roughly eight miles apart so one can understand why this confusion occurs. He began as a journalist, a correspondent for provincial papers, then London correspondent for the Italian press. He also wrote many lyrics to music (five of which are mentioned on the Havergal Brian Society pages as being 'lost') and 46 catalogued in the cooperative WorldCat.  He also wrote a number of songs such as 'Today and Tomorrow' [c1895-6], 'At Candlelight', 'Without You' and 'Song of Betrothal' and his most lasting, "Down the vale"

Raymond Sheppard Boy's Own Paper July 1938, p. 492

However he is best known for his public school stories as well as his adventure stories (as was another name seen with Hadath, Percy F. Westerman - more on him another day!). The British Library, at a very quick glance, lists 67 books with annuals, compilations etc, attributed to him and I suspect there's a lot more. Some sites quote 100 titles. If we add the "Pamela" series of books written under his female pseudonym, Florence Gunby Hadath (his wife's name, thus causing a lot of confusion for bibliophiles!) we easily get a bigger total and that leaves out all the short stories that were not reprinted in book form! He wrote "in periodicals such as Chums, Happy Mag., and The Captain". From: http://www.crimefictioniv.com/Part_34.html. He also had stories serialized in The Children's Newspaper.

He was athletic, and Captain of his school, St. Edmund's Canterbury and won College Colours for cricket, rugby and soccer at Peterhouse College, Cambridge University and was awarded his Master of Arts on January 16, 1896 (see Times 17 Jan. 1896, p.6). He followed a sporting career until his trial for Paignton Rugby Club when he had an accident which put paid to his sporting career.  He became Senior Classical Mas­ter at the Guildford Grammar School *.

Raymond Sheppard Boy's Own Paper July 1938, p. 494
"Planting his feet, he stationed himself in front of her, gripping his stick"

The Musical Times (1 August 1900 p.528) contains an appeal and update on a collection for Signor Piccolomini "the well known song composer, is, we are sorry to learn, seriously and distressingly ill. He is sixty-six years of age and, through the misfortunes of ill-health and failing powers, he is unfortunately without means. As his wife and her three young children are totally unprovided for, a fund has been started with a view of procuring a livelihood for Madame Piccolomini and her little ones, and of providing a home for her husband should he become sufficiently restored to be able to return to it. Nine donations already received, amounting to forty-two guineas, have given the fund a good impetus, and further subscriptions will be gratefully received and acknowledged by Mr. Gunby Hadath, 39, Chichele Road, Cricklewood, N.W" In the same year, he played cricket for the Authors against the Publishers at Lord's in 1911 and 1912 as well as appearing in a charity match for W. Strutt-Cavell's XI against XVIII of Twickenham in 1900.

Boy's Own Paper April 1940 p.307
"There had slipped out, brushing greasy elbows with him, two men who were whispering together"

After teaching for a while he appears to have been declared bankrupt in 1910. "The bankrupt had been a schoolmaster, the secretary of companies, a director of companies and journalist and since 1896 had earned between £1,300 and £1,400 by song-writing" The Times of February 11 1910 goes on to say "the bankrupt stated his failure was due to him having lost £1,985 17s 5d. through speculating on the Stock Exchange". In July (29th) that year it was further reported that despite clearing a lot of the outstanding debt the Registrar suspended the discharge for two years.

I like to think this is what prompted Gunby Hadath to start writing stories about his happier (?) times as a schoolmaster. Jack Cox writes in his history of BOP (Take a Cold Tub, Sir!) "His first story, "Buffle's Brolly" was published by Hutchinson in [...] 1909-10 and his last, "The decent old bird", was written for me [as Editor] in late 1953"

Boy's Own Paper April 1940 p.308-309

"Within the space of a breath the reptile had moved and wound its coils 

into a spiral, with neck extended and vicious head reared and swaying"

He also wrote to the Observer (February 18, 1923) requesting that London be given a "cleaning and painting" in honour of Sir Christopher Wren's bi-centennial

A somewhat unusual distinction has just come the way of Mr. Gunby Hadath, the writer for young people, who has been presented with the Freedom of St. Gervais-les-Bains, in Savoy, at the foot of Mont Blanc. Mr. Hadath resides on Mont Blanc during the summer months, and his "St. Palfry's Cross," which depicts the neighbourhood, has sold largely in America and Scandanavia, and is now being translated into French by Madame de Sailly.  From:P-P, De V. (1933), "Words confused and misused", The Bookman, vol. 83, no. 497, pp. 445.

Boy's Own Paper April 1940 p.308-309

"With the eerie sensation of being under inspection 

Michael called up that he had come in search of a room"

In the Collector's Digest March 1954 (Vol 8:87, pp62-63) a tribute appeared for Hadath:

There recently died Gunby Hadath who for a great many years was. in the front rank of authors for boys. He was particularly popular with his school stories. He started to write for "The Captain" in 1909 and continued to do so until its end in 1924. Later he wrote for "Chums". Practically all his serials were afterwards published in book form. Probably his best known story was "Sparrow in Search of Expulsion."

In his youth he was a well known cricket and rugger player. He rose to the rank of major in the First World War. He also wrote many popular lyrics, including "Down the Vale," which had a great vogue. I well remember a busker who used to sing it outside the old Bradford Empire 40 years ago. It was apparently the only song he knew. 

In a tribute which appeared in "The Times" Feb. 1st, "A.S.M." said he was in Gunby Hadath's form at a private school in Devon, where he was an assistant master just down from Cambridge. They started a friendship, which lasted right to Hadath's death. He concludes: "Of irrepressible vivacity and high spirits, come weal or woe, he was one of those usually dreadful people who are "hearty" at breakfast, that meal at which the characteristic Englishman sits dourly over his newspaper glowering upon all who make chatter, much less joke - but not upon old Gunby. I have known him burst into such a glum assembly wearing a bowler hat, boxing gloves, and Father Christmas white beard. With his passing much laughter has gone out of the lives of all who knew him; profoundest sadness descended upon his wife, who, alone able to read his handwriting, typed all his inimitable school stories and upon her twin sister, long time matron at Dulwich, who joined with them to make the happiest trio to which I have had the privilege of admission."

Gunby Hadath lived at Cricklewood but spent winter in the French Alps for many years. He must have been in his early eighties at the time of his death.

The Times 18 January 1954, (p. 8) announce his death and the following day a fuller obituary appeared in which it states he died at 82 years of age and was born on April 30 1871

OBITUARY:
MR. GUNBY HADATH whose contributions to the Boy's Own Paper and other publications of a similar nature will be recalled, died on Sunday in hospital in London at the age of 82, as briefly reported yesterday.
John Edward Gunby Hadath was born on April 30, 1871, the son of the late Rev. E. E. Hadath, sometime rector of Owersby, Lincolnshire. He was educated at St. Edmund's School, Canterbury, and Peterhouse. Cambridge, and began his career as a schoolmaster. His gift for clear exposition was soon manifested in writing, and he was able in due course to give up the classroom and transfer his work to the study, so that in time his name became one of the best known and best loved of those who aim to instruct as well as entertain youth. Many of his numerous stories appeared in serial form in the Boy's Own Paper,and were later republished as books to delight many generations of boys to whom Brent of Gatehouse, Last of his Line, Outlaws of St. Martyn's, Won by a Try and Schoolboy Grit have been household words for years. Besides his articles and stories, he wrote a number of lyrics, the best known of which is "Down the Vale" which in its musical setting had many years of popularity, and he also wrote for the theatre. For some years past he had divided his time between this country and France and since 1932 had been a Citoyen d'Honneur of the Commune of St. Gervaise-les-Bains, Haute Savoie.He married Florence Annie, the youngest daughter of the late William Webber, who survives him.

Let's get started with the Sheppard illustrated stories. The first I've found is "The mountain's dread hour" by Gunby Hadath (Boy's Own Paper July 1938). The two illustrations (shown above) are of a mountain eagle and it attacking two people on a ledge. All the other illustrations here are from Boy's Own Paper April 1940, Sheppard drew images to accompany Hadath's story "In search of a kingdom". Both stories are based on Hadath's experiences in the mountains of France.

Boy's Own Paper April 1940 p.315

NEXT: More of "In search of a kingdom"
===============================
* A lot of the early biography is adapted from Leonard M. Allen's article in The Story Book Collector No 33 January 1949

Raymond Sheppard - Illustrator

This opening page is to announce the start of another blog...this time on a forgotten artist who is beginning to be recognized again for his versatile subjects and strong illustrative and painting talents.

I will populate this blog later this year to mark the publication of an article in Illustrators #2. But to start the sharing of Raymond Sheppard's artwork here is his colour cover from Boy's Own Paper May 1955

Boy's Own Paper May 1955

And here is the illustration he did to accompany the cover story "The Red Fear" by  Keith Horan

Boy's Own Paper May 1955 pages 20-21