''The Schoolgirl'' was a British weekly

story paper A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and text stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers. Also known in Britain as "boys' weeklies", story papers were phenomenally popula ...

aimed at girls. Published by

Amalgamated Press The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...

(AP), ''The Schoolgirl'' ran in two series, the first from 1922 to 1923, and the second (essentially continuing a sister publication) from 1929 to 1940. Most stories in ''The Schoolgirl'' centred on the girls and staff of Cliff House School, a fictional establishment in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, on a clifftop overlooking the sea. Cliff House was the sister school of

Greyfriars Greyfriars, Grayfriars or Gray Friars is a term for Franciscan Order of Friars Minor, in particular, the Conventual Franciscans. The term often refers to buildings or districts formerly associated with the order. Former Friaries * Greyfriars, Bed ...

, where

Billy Bunter William George Bunter is a fictional schoolboy created by Charles Hamilton using the pen name Frank Richards. He features in stories set at Greyfriars School, a fictional English public school in Kent, originally published in the boys' weekly ...

was educated, and had its own equivalent, his sister

Bessie Bunter Elizabeth Gertrude Bunter, better known as Bessie Bunter, is a fictional character created by Charles Hamilton, who also created her more famous brother Billy Bunter. History Billy Bunter was a central character in the Greyfriars School stori ...

. The Cliff House School was introduced in the Amalgamated Press boys' story paper ''

The Magnet ''The Magnet'' was a British weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1,683 issues. Each issue contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional publ ...

'' in 1909. Bessie Bunter and Cliff House School stories had been a regular feature of the first girls' story paper, '' The School Friend'', beginning in 1919 and continuing through 1929.

Publication history

The first series of ''The Schoolgirl'' was launched on 21 February 1922, and the publication was 28 pages long. It was subsequently reduced to 24 pages. The first series ended on 13 March 1923. ''The Schoolgirl'' was revived on 3 August 1929, picking up where ''The School Friend'' had left off. (''The School Friend'' was canceled with the 27 July 1929 issue, with ''The Schoolgirl'' launching exactly one week later.) In May 1936, the fellow AP girls' story paper ''

Schoolgirls' Own The ''Schoolgirls' Own'' was a British weekly story paper aimed at girls. Published by , it was launched in February 1921 and ran for 798 issues until May 1936, when it was merged with a sister publication. The main feature centred on the Mo ...

'' (launched in 1921) was merged into ''The Schoolgirl''. ''The Schoolgirl'' continued until 18 May 1940, when paper rationing during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

resulted in its merger with the sister story paper ''

Girls' Crystal ''Girls' Crystal'' (also known as ''The Crystal'', ''Girls' Crystal Weekly'' and ''Girls' Crystal and School Girl'' at various points) was a British weekly fictional anthology publication aimed at girls. Published by Amalgamated Press and later ...

''.

Content

The Friardale Website described ''The Schoolgirl'' thusly:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoolgirl, The 1922 establishments in the United Kingdom 1940 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1922 Magazines established in 1929 Magazines disestablished in 1923 Magazines disestablished in 1940 Defunct children's magazines published in the United Kingdom Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom