Richmal Crompton Lamburn was a prominent English writer best known for her Just William series of books, amusing short tales, and, to a lesser extent, adult fiction publications. Richmal Crompton Lamburn was born in Bury, Lancashire, the second child of Rev. Edward John Sewell Lamburn, a Classics teacher at Bury Grammar School, and his wife Clara (née Crompton). Her brother, John Battersby Crompton Lamburn, was also a writer, known as John Lambourne for his fantasy novel The Kingdom That Was (1931). Richmal Crompton attended St Elphin's Boarding School for the Daughters of the Clergy, which was initially located in Warrington, Lancashire. She later relocated with the school to Darley Dale, near Matlock, Derbyshire, in 1904. In 1914, she returned to St Elphin's as a Classics mistress, and at the age of 27, she transferred to Bromley High School in southeast London, where she began writing seriously. Cadogan demonstrated that she was an exceptional and committed teacher at both institutions. After contracting poliomyelitis in 1923, she lost the use of her right leg. She left her teaching job to focus solely on writing. She never married and had no children, but she was an aunt and great-aunt. Crompton's William stories and other literary works were immensely popular, and three years after retiring from teaching, she was able to afford to build a house (The Glebe) in Bromley Common for herself and her mother, Clara.
