Angela Brazil

Angela Brazil, (pronounced "brazzle"), (November 30, 1868 - March 13, 1947), was the first of the British writers of "modern" School Girls' Stories genre - written from the characters' point of view. The equivalent in respect of boys' stories was Charles Hamilton (1876-1961), (pen name Frank Richards). This twentieth century genre aimed to write entertaining rather than merely instructional stories. L.T. Meade (1854-1914) was a hugely prolific author of School Girls' Stories in the second half of the nineteenth century, but in the much more overtly moralizing, instructional, style.

Biography

Education

• Miss Knowle's School in Preston,
• The Turrets in Wallasey,
• Manchester Secondary School
• Ellerslie – “a quite exclusive girls' school”.

Along with her sister Amy, Angel then studied at Heatherley Art School in London.

Early life to 1915

Angela was born in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the youngest of a middle-class Mill Manager’s family, which moved according her father’s work, around the Manchester Mill towns of Lancashire.

After her father’s death, in 1899, the family moved home to the Conwy valley, and she travelled with her mother in Europe. She moved to 1 The Quadrant, Coventry in 1911, with a brother, and they were joined by her sister Amy - upon their mother's death in 1915. Angela never married.

Her writing

She was quite late in taking up writing, developing a strong interest in Welsh mythology, and at first wrote a few magazine articles on mythology and nature – due most likely to spending holidays in a cottage in Wales. It was possibly thanks to her sister Amy that she finally began work on a novel at the age of 35.

Her first book to be published was A terrible tomboy (1905), but this was not strictly a school story. Her long sequence of school stories did not commence until her second book The fortunes of Phillipa (1906), and exceptionally with respect to many of her contemporaries writing in this vein, she did not write any books in a series - each stood on its own with different characters every time. These were considered to deal accurately and sympathetically with the highs and lows in the lives of middle-class schoolgirls, including the tangle of emotional friendships. The realism is particularly shown in her frequent use of slang expressions - a factor leading to some teachers of the time to ban her books. In addition to her books, she also contributed a large number of school stories to children's annuals and the Girl's Own Paper.

Bibliography of school stories

Cover of A Popular Schoolgirl from a 1921 US edition.

• A Fortunate Term 1921.
• A Fourth Form Friendship 1911
• A Harum-Scarum Schoolgirl 1919
• A Pair of Schoolgirls 1912.
• A Patriotic Schoolgirl 1918.
• A Popular Schoolgirl 1920
• An Exciting Term. London 1936.
• At School with Rachel 1928.
• Captain Peggie 1924.
• Five Jolly Schoolgirls 1941
• For the Sake of the School. 1915.
• For the School Colours 1918.
• Jean’s Golden Term. 1934.
• Jill’s Jolliest School 1937.
• Joan’s Best Chum 1926
• The Secret of Border Castle 1943
• The Third Class at Miss Kaye's 1908.
• The Youngest Girl in the Fifth 1913.
• The Girls of St.Cyprians 1914.
• Three Terms at Uplands 1945
• Loyal to the School 1921.
• Manor House School 1910.
• Monitress Merle 1922.
• Nesta's New School. 1932
• The New Girl at St Chad's. 1911.
• Queen of the Dormitory and Other Stories 1926.
• Ruth of St. Ronan's 1927.
• Schoolgirl Kitty 1923
• St. Catherine’s College 1929.
• The Fortunes of Philippa 1906.
• The Head Girl at The Gables 1919
• The Jolliest Term on Record 1915.
• The Leader of the Lower School 1913.
• The Little Green School 1931.
• The Luckiest Girl in the School 1916.
• The Madcap of the School 1917
• The Mystery of the Moated Grange 1942
• The New School at Scawdale 1940.
• The Nicest Girl in the School. 1909;
• The Princess of the School 1920
• The School at the Turrets 1935.
• The School by the Sea. 1914.
• The School in the Forest 1944
• The School in the South. 1922
• The School on the Cliff 1938.
• The School on the Loch 1946
• The School on the Moor 1939.

References

• My own schooldays. Angela Brazil, 1926.
• The Schoolgirl Ethic: The Life and Work of Angela Brazil. Gillian Freeman, 1976
• You’re a Brick, Angela! Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig, Gollancz, London, 1976.
• Shropshire-cc.gov.uk [1]accessed 10 January 2006 (UTC)
• Collectingbooksandmagazines.com [2] accessed 10 January 2006 (UTC)

See also

• The Chalet School series series of books written by Elinor Brent-Dyer.
• The Melling School series of books written by Margaret Biggs.
• The article School story