Boy's Own Paper
Encyclopedia
The Boy's Own Paper was a British story paper
aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967.
as a means to encourage younger children to read and also instil Christian
morals during their formative years. The first issue went on sale on January 19, 1879.
In 1939 it was taken over by Lutterworth Press
, and in 1963 by Purnell and Sons Ltd. It was published at the end of its life in 1967 by BPC Publishing Ltd, who are believed to have started publishing the paper in 1965.
The paper was published weekly following the school year (Autumn through to Summer) until November 1913, when it became a monthly. In total, 2511 issues of the paper were published. From 1879 onwards each year's issues were bound together and sold as the Boy's Own Annual. In the initial few years, one could purchase the covers at the end of the publishing year and have the weekly issues bound. This produced some interesting minor variations in order and contents. The Annuals ceased publication after the 1940-41 edition due to wartime paper rationing. The Annuals included all of the text of the weekly (and later monthly) issues, with additional illustrations. There was an extra Christmas Number (edition) magazine from 1884-85 until 1912-13 and an extra Summer Number from 1884-85 until 1900-01. Later attempts at a smaller format annual, under Jack Cox's editorship, were the Boy's Own Companion from 1959 through 1963, and the Boy's Own Annual II from 1964-65 through 1975-76.
Often published were adventure stories; notes on how to practice nature study, sports and games; puzzles; and essay competitions. One of the stories in the opening issue was "My First Football Match", the first of many by Talbot Baines Reed
set in public schools
(Reed, who had not in fact attended such a school, later became the paper's first assistant editor
); and the first volume's serials included "From Powder Monkey to Admiral, or The Stirring Days of the British Navy". In the same volume, Captain Matthew Webb
contributed an account of how he swam the English Channel
.
In the first decade the paper un-self-consciously promoted the British Empire as the highest achievement of civilization, and reflected fully the racist attitudes which were taken for granted in Britain at the time. In 1885, for example, it described its vision of "the typical negro":
"The arm is two inches longer in proportion than that of a Caucasian, and the hands hang level with the kneecaps; the facial angle is seventy as against eighty three, the brain weighs thirty five as against forty five; the skull is much thicker ... there is no growth in intelligence once manhood is reached."
The paper initially attempted to appeal to boys of all classes, but by the 1890s began to concentrate on boys from wealthier backgrounds.
, Jules Verne
and R.M. Ballantyne. Robert Baden-Powell
, founder of the Scout Movement, was a regular columnist and urged readers "to live clean, manly and Christian lives". Less well known writers included William Gordon Stables
, W. E. Cule
, Sid G. Hedges
and Hugh Pembroke Vowles
. Edward Whymper
contributed engravings (including the masthead). Gilbert Davey
, who went on to publish Fun with Radio
introduced many youngsters to a future career in Radio and Electronics.
, Massachusetts from October 1873 through December 1876.
Boy's Own Paper was also printed in Toronto
, Canada by the publisher W. Warwick and Sons. These were identical to the British editions, except for a four-page "cover", dated one month later than the contents, which contained ads for Toronto businesses. Examples of these "reprints" have been noted for August 1884 and August 1885.
, published in 2006, has a Boy's Own look at life. In 2003 Media Lens described reporting on the Iraq war as "Boys' [sic] Own war pornography". Alternatively, many associate the magazine with well-intentioned heroes who do not have inhibitions about trying to right wrongs.
In the 1989 book Great Work of Time
, dealing with an alternate history of the British Empire
, writer John Crowley
depicts Cecil Rhodes as avidly reading Boy's Own Magazine when he was no longer a boy but at the peak of his empire-building career.
Story paper
*This article is about British Story papers. For the U.S. version, see Dime novel.A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and text stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers...
aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967.
Publishing history
The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract SocietyReligious Tract Society
The Religious Tract Society, founded 1799, 56 Paternoster Row and 65 St. Paul's Chuchyard, was the original name of a major British publisher of Christian literature intended initially for evangelism, and including literature aimed at children, women, and the poor.The RTS is also notable for being...
as a means to encourage younger children to read and also instil Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
morals during their formative years. The first issue went on sale on January 19, 1879.
In 1939 it was taken over by Lutterworth Press
Lutterworth Press
The Lutterworth Press is one of the oldest independent British publishing houses. It has been trading since the late eighteenth century initially as the Religious Tract Society...
, and in 1963 by Purnell and Sons Ltd. It was published at the end of its life in 1967 by BPC Publishing Ltd, who are believed to have started publishing the paper in 1965.
The paper was published weekly following the school year (Autumn through to Summer) until November 1913, when it became a monthly. In total, 2511 issues of the paper were published. From 1879 onwards each year's issues were bound together and sold as the Boy's Own Annual. In the initial few years, one could purchase the covers at the end of the publishing year and have the weekly issues bound. This produced some interesting minor variations in order and contents. The Annuals ceased publication after the 1940-41 edition due to wartime paper rationing. The Annuals included all of the text of the weekly (and later monthly) issues, with additional illustrations. There was an extra Christmas Number (edition) magazine from 1884-85 until 1912-13 and an extra Summer Number from 1884-85 until 1900-01. Later attempts at a smaller format annual, under Jack Cox's editorship, were the Boy's Own Companion from 1959 through 1963, and the Boy's Own Annual II from 1964-65 through 1975-76.
Contents
Talbot Baines Reed
Talbot Baines Reed was an English writer of boys' fiction who established a genre of school stories that endured into the second half of the 20th century. Among his best-known work is The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. He was a regular and prolific contributor to The Boy's Own Paper , in which most...
set in public schools
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...
(Reed, who had not in fact attended such a school, later became the paper's first assistant editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
); and the first volume's serials included "From Powder Monkey to Admiral, or The Stirring Days of the British Navy". In the same volume, Captain Matthew Webb
Matthew Webb
Captain Matthew Webb was the first recorded person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aids. On 25 August 1875 he swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours.-Early life and career:...
contributed an account of how he swam the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
.
In the first decade the paper un-self-consciously promoted the British Empire as the highest achievement of civilization, and reflected fully the racist attitudes which were taken for granted in Britain at the time. In 1885, for example, it described its vision of "the typical negro":
"The arm is two inches longer in proportion than that of a Caucasian, and the hands hang level with the kneecaps; the facial angle is seventy as against eighty three, the brain weighs thirty five as against forty five; the skull is much thicker ... there is no growth in intelligence once manhood is reached."
The paper initially attempted to appeal to boys of all classes, but by the 1890s began to concentrate on boys from wealthier backgrounds.
Famous contributors
Many famous authors contributed to the paper. W.G. Grace wrote for several issues, along with Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
and R.M. Ballantyne. Robert Baden-Powell
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB , also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement....
, founder of the Scout Movement, was a regular columnist and urged readers "to live clean, manly and Christian lives". Less well known writers included William Gordon Stables
William Gordon Stables
William Gordon Stables MD, CM. RN was a Scottish-born medical doctor in the Royal Navy and a prolific author of adventure fiction, primarily for boys.- Life and works :...
, W. E. Cule
W. E. Cule
William Edward Cule was a British author of children's books and several books for adults on Christian themes. In all, he wrote some thirty books encompassing a number of popular genres - public school stories, adventure yarns, fairy tales, novels and Christian allegories and fable...
, Sid G. Hedges
Sid G. Hedges
Sid G Hedges was a British author of books and articles on swimming, games and hobbies for young people. He also wrote young people's fiction.- Life and works :...
and Hugh Pembroke Vowles
Hugh Pembroke Vowles
Hugh Pembroke Vowles was a British engineer, socialist and author.- Early life and education :...
. Edward Whymper
Edward Whymper
Edward Whymper , was an English illustrator, climber and explorer best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. On the descent four members of the party were killed.-Early life:...
contributed engravings (including the masthead). Gilbert Davey
Gilbert Davey
Gilbert Davey was a writer and radio enthusiast who introduced many youngsters to the rapidly developing fields of Radio and Electronics through his articles published in Boy's Own Paper, and his books, in particular Fun with Radio, first published in 1957, with updates ending in a sixth edition...
, who went on to publish Fun with Radio
Fun with Radio
Fun with Radio is a book by Gilbert Davey first published in 1957 by Edmund Ward Ltd . At a time when radio receivers were still very expensive, and portable radios still a rarity , the book introduced many youngsters, mainly boys, to radio construction, and in some cases a career in radio or...
introduced many youngsters to a future career in Radio and Electronics.
Editors
Editors of Boy's Own Paper:- 1879 – 1897: James Macaulay (Supervising Editor)
- 1879 – 1912: George A. Hutchison (Sub-editor/Acting-editor, subsequently Editor)
- 1912 – 1913: George Andrew Hutchison (Consulting Editor)
- 1912 – 1924: Arthur Lincoln Haydon
- 1924 – 1933: Geoffrey Richard Pocklington
- 1933 – 1935: George J.H. Northcroft
- 1935 – 1942: Robert Harding
- 1942 – 1946: Leonard Halls
- 1946 – 1967: Jack Cox
Other papers of the same title
From 1855 through 1920, there were in total over a dozen serials using the title Boys Own. The first and most influential was Samuel Beeton's weekly Boy's Own Magazine, published from 1855 to 1890. Another was an American publication named The Boys' Own, published by Charles F. Richards in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts from October 1873 through December 1876.
Boy's Own Paper was also printed in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada by the publisher W. Warwick and Sons. These were identical to the British editions, except for a four-page "cover", dated one month later than the contents, which contained ads for Toronto businesses. Examples of these "reprints" have been noted for August 1884 and August 1885.
In contemporary popular culture
In British popular culture, improbable or daring endeavours are often described as "real Boy's Own stuff", in reference to the heroic content of the magazine's stories. The Dangerous Book for BoysThe Dangerous Book for Boys
The Dangerous Book for Boys, by Conn and Hal Iggulden, is a guidebook published by HarperCollins, aimed at boys "from eight to eighty." It covers around eighty topics, including how to build a treehouse, grow a crystal, or tell direction with a watch...
, published in 2006, has a Boy's Own look at life. In 2003 Media Lens described reporting on the Iraq war as "Boys' [sic] Own war pornography". Alternatively, many associate the magazine with well-intentioned heroes who do not have inhibitions about trying to right wrongs.
In the 1989 book Great Work of Time
Great Work of Time
Great Work of Time is a novella by John Crowley. A science fiction story involving time travel, it concerns a secret society created by the will of Cecil Rhodes to preserve and expand the British Empire....
, dealing with an alternate history of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, writer John Crowley
John Crowley
John Crowley is an American author of fantasy, science fiction and mainstream fiction. He studied at Indiana University and has a second career as a documentary film writer...
depicts Cecil Rhodes as avidly reading Boy's Own Magazine when he was no longer a boy but at the peak of his empire-building career.