Bessie Bunter

Last updated
Bessie Bunter
First appearance The Magnet #582 (April 1919) [1]
Created by Charles Hamilton writing as Frank Richards
In-universe information
Full nameElizabeth Gertrude Bunter
NicknameBessie
GenderGirl
OccupationSchoolgirl
Relatives
  • Billy Bunter (brother)
  • Sammy Bunter (brother)
  • Mr. Samuel Bunter (father)
  • Mrs Amelia Bunter (mother)
Religion Church of England
NationalityBritish
School Greyfriars School

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.

Contents

History

Bessie Bunter Bessie Bunter.jpg
Bessie Bunter
Bessie Bunter of Cliff House Bessie Bunter of Cliff House.jpg
Bessie Bunter of Cliff House

Billy Bunter was a central character in the Greyfriars School stories which appeared in the boys' story paper The Magnet from 1907 to 1940, and Bessie's first appearance was in a 1919 Greyfriars story. [1] She was a pupil of Cliff House School, a girls' school near Greyfriars.

In 1919, attempting to replicate the success of The Magnet, Amalgamated Press decided to bring out a new magazine for girls called The School Friend (later continued as The Schoolgirl ), which included stories about Cliff House originally by Hamilton, using the pen name "Hilda Richards," supposedly the sister of "Frank Richards." The stories were soon taken over by other authors, also using the name Hilda Richards. The most prolific of these substitute writers was John W. Wheway, who wrote well over 500 Cliff House stories between 1931 and 1940. [2]

Hamilton wrote one more Cliff House story, in 1949, called "Bessie Bunter of Cliff House School", and published by Cassell.[ citation needed ]

The character also appeared in comic strip format in the School Friend comic book, which was published from 1950 to 1965; she later moved to June , and, when that title ended, moved to Tammy .

In addition, she featured as an adult character in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier where she married the former Greyfriars schoolboy Harry Wharton. [3]

Character

Bessie Bunter was essentially a female counterpart to her brother Billy, sharing many characteristics with her brother, including her large size and large appetite. She was as unappealing as her brother Billy, being conceited, untruthful, gluttonous and obese, but she was rather more domineering than he was and would usually impose her will by nagging, or, in the case of her brothers, by administering hefty slaps to the head. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greyfriars School</span> Fictional English public school

Greyfriars School is a fictional English public school used as a setting in the long-running series of stories by the writer Charles Hamilton, who wrote under the pen-name of Frank Richards. Although the stories are focused on the Remove, whose most famous pupil was Billy Bunter, other characters also featured on a regular basis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Hamilton (writer)</span> English writer of school stories (1876–1961)

Charles Harold St. John Hamilton was an English writer, specialising in writing long-running series of stories for weekly magazines about recurrent casts of characters, his most frequent and famous genre being boys' public school stories, though he also wrote in other genres. He used a variety of pen-names, generally using a different name for each set of characters he wrote about, the most famous being Frank Richards for the Greyfriars School stories featuring Billy Bunter. Other important pen-names included Martin Clifford, Owen Conquest and Ralph Redway. He also wrote hundreds of stories under his real name such as the Ken King stories for The Modern Boy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Bunter</span> Fictional schoolboy created by Frank Richards

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 story paper The Magnet from 1908 to 1940. The character has appeared in novels, on television, in stage plays and in comic strips.

<i>The Magnet</i> UK weekly boys story paper

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.

<i>The Gem</i> UK weekly boys story paper

The Gem (1907–1939) was a story paper published in Great Britain by Amalgamated Press in the early 20th century, predominantly featuring the activities of boys at the fictional school St. Jim's. These stories were all written using the pen-name of "Martin Clifford," the majority by Charles Hamilton. Many issues also included a shorter serial story ; these parts of the paper were not written by Charles Hamilton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Merry</span>

Tom Merry is the principal character in the "St Jim's" stories which appeared in the boy's weekly paper, The Gem, from 1907 to 1939. The stories were all written using the pen-name of Martin Clifford, the majority by Charles Hamilton who was more widely known as Frank Richards, the creator of Billy Bunter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. H. Chapman</span>

Charles Henry Chapman (1879–1972), who signed his work as C. H. Chapman, was a British illustrator and cartoonist best known for his work in boys' story papers such as The Magnet where the character Billy Bunter appeared. He later illustrated Bunter cartoon strips and several Bunter books published in the 1950s and 1960s.

<i>Tammy</i> (comics) British comics magazine

Tammy was a weekly British comic for girls published by Fleetway in London from 1971 to 1984. Tammy was closely linked editorially with the fellow Fleetway titles Misty and Jinty. At its height, Tammy sold 250,000 copies per week, more than popular IPC Magazines titles like 2000 AD.

The Schoolgirl was a British weekly story paper aimed at girls. Published by Amalgamated Press (AP), The Schoolgirl ran in two series, the first from 1922 to 1923, and the second from 1929 to 1940.

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Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School is a BBC Television show broadcast from 1952 to 1961. It was based on the Greyfriars School stories, written by author Charles Hamilton under the pen name Frank Richards. Hamilton wrote all of the scripts for the television show.

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Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School is a school story by Charles Hamilton writing as Frank Richards, using the characters and settings of the Greyfriars School stories published from 1908 to 1940 in The Magnet. The book's retail price was 7s 6d.

<i>Billy Bunters Banknote</i>

Billy Bunter's Banknote is a school story by Charles Hamilton writing as Frank Richards, using the characters and settings of the Greyfriars School stories published from 1908 to 1940 in The Magnet. The book's retail price was 7s 6d.

<i>Billy Bunters Barring-Out</i>

Billy Bunter's Barring-Out is a school story by Charles Hamilton writing as Frank Richards, using the characters and settings of the Greyfriars School stories published from 1908 to 1940 in The Magnet. The book's retail price was 7s 6d.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. J. Macdonald</span>

Reginald James Macdonald, who signed his work as R. J. Macdonald, was a Scottish illustrator and cartoonist best known for his work in the boys' school stories in The Gem written by Charles Hamilton writing as Martin Clifford. After World War II from 1947 to his death in 1954 he provided colour and black and white illustrations for the Billy Bunter novels by the same author.

<i>Billy Bunter in Brazil</i>

Billy Bunter in Brazil is a school story by Charles Hamilton writing as Frank Richards, using the characters and settings of the Greyfriars School stories published from 1908 to 1940 in The Magnet. The book's retail price was 7s 6d.

<i>Billy Bunters Christmas Party</i> School story by Charles Hamilton

Billy Bunter's Christmas Party is a school story by Charles Hamilton writing as Frank Richards, using the characters and settings of the Greyfriars School stories published from 1908 to 1940 in The Magnet. The book's retail price was 7s 6d.

<i>School Friend</i> (story paper) British story paper for girls

School Friend was the name of a pioneering story paper marketed exclusively to girls, published from 1919 to 1929. The name was later used by Amalgamated Press on a girls' comic in 1950.

References

  1. 1 2 "The School Friend". Friardale. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  2. ( Lofts & Adley 1975 :65)
  3. Moore, Alan and Kevin O'Neill. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier (WildStorm/DC Comics, November 14, 2007).
  4. ( Cadogan 1988 :20).

Sources