Talbot Baines Reed (1852–1893)
Author of The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's
About the Author
Works by Talbot Baines Reed
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Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1852-04-03
- Date of death
- 1893-11-28
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- UK
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Reviews
Another very enjoyable public school story by Talbot Baines Reed. This is the third one I have read by this author, after "The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's" and "Tom, Dick And Harry". The level of quality in this one is similar, although there is less focus on humorous elements in this one (no Tadpoles and Guinea-Pigs here, no Philosophical Conversation Club). However, Reed still has a good pen for humor when he wants. Take for instance this passage where, for reasons I won't detail, a boy show more called George Heathcote has got the idea that he ought to misbehave in a very spectacular way. He decides to walk on the school roofs for the amusement of his schoolmates below, in the company of his friend Coote, who is extremely reluctant to this dangerous pastime but does not want to lose face:
P. G. Wodehouse said that the public school story was far more difficult to write than any other story, because you cannot use the great mainstays of fiction: love and adventure. He went on to say that the worst of school life from the point of view of the writer is that nothing ever happens. I agree with the first statement, and I would amend the second to say that dramatic things happen but they are always within a limited range of things, and that's why after reading a good number of public school stories like I'm doing, you notice how some themes become recurrent.
For example, in The Boys of Templeton we have the new junior boys at school, who after ruling the roost in their elementary school come to a big public school where they are among the youngest and least in status. They come with high hopes and nervousness, and they have to learn the ropes and suffer some mostly good-natured hazing and practical jokes. In this novel, these new boys are three friends: Richardson (often called Dick because of his surname), Heathcote and Coote. These boys were inseparable on their old school. Dick is the leader of their society (hence the title, Follow My Leader), and the other two are followers. We see them as they travel to Templeton school to take their access exam. They are a high-spirited bunch, always impulsive and finding it easy to get in trouble, but they are intimidated by these new surroundings. Two of them will get into Templeton right away, and third one will fail the exam and try again later. So we follow the beginnings of their school career at Templeton, and how they have to find their place in it.
At the same time, the book tells the story of a battle for the soul of the school between sixth form boys: those who have the good of the school at heart and some who have a deep disregard for the school and its rules, and seek to undermine them, even corrupting younger boys. When I say "corrupt" I do not mean that in any kind of sexual way: these stories are innocent of sexuality, as befits a late Victorian novel. I mean making them adopt a cynical worldview which will not allow them to do to make any real effort in academical or sport matters and only seek to enjoy themselves at the expense of the rules. The main example of this is a cynical and manipulative sixth-form boy named Pledge. When Heathcote becomes his fag, his soul is in moral danger. On the other side this war are most of the other prefects (called monitors here). We have the head boy, Ponty, who is universally loved and admired but who doesn't have the energy for reform that Templeton requires. When Ponty graduates, the new head boy, Mansfield, is much less popular, but he is the right man at the right place, and he has all the energy required for a war against Pledge and company, ably helped by some other senior boys.
So, our three junior heroes are in moral danger. Dick's leadership among this small group of friends fails, and the boys do not do well and get in serious trouble, and even start falling apart. However, Heathcote has the worst of it, and finally Dick comes to notice it, realizes that he is as much to blame for it as anybody, and resolves to put remedy to it, save their friendship and help Heathcote.
This theme of a battle for a boy's soul, endangered by bad influences, is a staple of the genre. It features in different degrees in many of these books, from Tom Brown's Schooldays to Eric. In Talbot Baines Reed's stories, of course, it's handled in a more subtle and agreeable manner than in Eric. Here, no matter how Pledge mocks the monitors as "saintly", there is no excessive moralism or religiosity. There is no preaching from the author. The boys on the right side of this fight are still all boys, boisterous and fun-loving, which makes for enjoyable reading and makes the reader cheer for them.
One memorable moment of the book happens when the three young friends, eager to recover their good name and the respect of their peers, decide to run in the "Templeton hunt", which is a sport event where some boys, all excellent runners, called the "hares" start a long run across the countryside, leaving papers as their "scent", so that they can be followed by the pack of "hunters", a larger group of school runners who will try to follow their track and catch up with them before they can return to the school after a run of more than twelve miles. Obviously only the most athletic senior boys can really keep up with a run like this, but our three young heroes make such an epic and honest effort of it that they earn back everyone's respect.
Nevertheless, Pledge will not resign himself to be defeated. At the same time the boys are suffering the consequences of some trouble they got into months ago and that is coming back to haunt them, so much so that at one point Dick decides to write to his father for help. This is unusual in these stories, since the boys are usually eager to solve their problems by themselves. He writes this letter which, because of how puzzling and unintelligible it is for the recipients, is a clear antecedent to Jennings' letters home in Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings series:
All in all, another pleasing school story by Talbot Baines Reed, treating themes like friendship and the responsibility of leadership, which I recommend to fans of the genre. show less
“Tell you what’ll be a lark, Coote,” said Heathcote, as the two strode on, arm in arm, followed by a small crowd of juniors, who, seeing they were “on the swagger,” hoped to be in the sport as spectators. “Tell you what; we’ll have a walk round the roofs. I know where we can get up. We can get nearly all round the Quad. Won’t it be a spree?”
Coote looked as delighted as he could, and said he hoped they wouldn’t be caught, or there might be a row.
“Bless you, no one’s about to-day. Come on. Nobody’s done it since Fitch fell off a year ago, and he only got half round.”
Coote was inwardly most reluctant to deprive the late Master Fitch of his hard-earned laurels, and even hinted as much. But Heathcote was in no humour for paltering. He was playing a high game, and Coote must play, too.
So they gave their followers the slip, and dodged their way back to the Quad, and made for the first staircase next to the Great Gate. Up here they crept, hurriedly and stealthily. One or two boys met them on the way, but Georgie swaggered past them, as though bound to pay an ordinary morning call on some occupant of the top floor. The top floor of all was dedicated to the use of the maids, who at that hour of the day were too much occupied elsewhere in making beds and filling jugs, to be at all inconvenient.
Heathcote, who, considering he had never made the expedition before, was wonderfully well up in the geography of the place, piloted Coote up a sort of ladder which ended in a trap-door in the ceiling of the garret.
“I know it’s up here,” he said. “Raggles told me it was the way Fitch got up.”
“Oh!” said Coote, hanging tight on to the ladder with both arms, and trusting that, whichever way they ascended, they might select a different mode of descent from that adopted by the unfortunate Fitch.
P. G. Wodehouse said that the public school story was far more difficult to write than any other story, because you cannot use the great mainstays of fiction: love and adventure. He went on to say that the worst of school life from the point of view of the writer is that nothing ever happens. I agree with the first statement, and I would amend the second to say that dramatic things happen but they are always within a limited range of things, and that's why after reading a good number of public school stories like I'm doing, you notice how some themes become recurrent.
For example, in The Boys of Templeton we have the new junior boys at school, who after ruling the roost in their elementary school come to a big public school where they are among the youngest and least in status. They come with high hopes and nervousness, and they have to learn the ropes and suffer some mostly good-natured hazing and practical jokes. In this novel, these new boys are three friends: Richardson (often called Dick because of his surname), Heathcote and Coote. These boys were inseparable on their old school. Dick is the leader of their society (hence the title, Follow My Leader), and the other two are followers. We see them as they travel to Templeton school to take their access exam. They are a high-spirited bunch, always impulsive and finding it easy to get in trouble, but they are intimidated by these new surroundings. Two of them will get into Templeton right away, and third one will fail the exam and try again later. So we follow the beginnings of their school career at Templeton, and how they have to find their place in it.
At the same time, the book tells the story of a battle for the soul of the school between sixth form boys: those who have the good of the school at heart and some who have a deep disregard for the school and its rules, and seek to undermine them, even corrupting younger boys. When I say "corrupt" I do not mean that in any kind of sexual way: these stories are innocent of sexuality, as befits a late Victorian novel. I mean making them adopt a cynical worldview which will not allow them to do to make any real effort in academical or sport matters and only seek to enjoy themselves at the expense of the rules. The main example of this is a cynical and manipulative sixth-form boy named Pledge. When Heathcote becomes his fag, his soul is in moral danger. On the other side this war are most of the other prefects (called monitors here). We have the head boy, Ponty, who is universally loved and admired but who doesn't have the energy for reform that Templeton requires. When Ponty graduates, the new head boy, Mansfield, is much less popular, but he is the right man at the right place, and he has all the energy required for a war against Pledge and company, ably helped by some other senior boys.
So, our three junior heroes are in moral danger. Dick's leadership among this small group of friends fails, and the boys do not do well and get in serious trouble, and even start falling apart. However, Heathcote has the worst of it, and finally Dick comes to notice it, realizes that he is as much to blame for it as anybody, and resolves to put remedy to it, save their friendship and help Heathcote.
This theme of a battle for a boy's soul, endangered by bad influences, is a staple of the genre. It features in different degrees in many of these books, from Tom Brown's Schooldays to Eric. In Talbot Baines Reed's stories, of course, it's handled in a more subtle and agreeable manner than in Eric. Here, no matter how Pledge mocks the monitors as "saintly", there is no excessive moralism or religiosity. There is no preaching from the author. The boys on the right side of this fight are still all boys, boisterous and fun-loving, which makes for enjoyable reading and makes the reader cheer for them.
One memorable moment of the book happens when the three young friends, eager to recover their good name and the respect of their peers, decide to run in the "Templeton hunt", which is a sport event where some boys, all excellent runners, called the "hares" start a long run across the countryside, leaving papers as their "scent", so that they can be followed by the pack of "hunters", a larger group of school runners who will try to follow their track and catch up with them before they can return to the school after a run of more than twelve miles. Obviously only the most athletic senior boys can really keep up with a run like this, but our three young heroes make such an epic and honest effort of it that they earn back everyone's respect.
Nevertheless, Pledge will not resign himself to be defeated. At the same time the boys are suffering the consequences of some trouble they got into months ago and that is coming back to haunt them, so much so that at one point Dick decides to write to his father for help. This is unusual in these stories, since the boys are usually eager to solve their problems by themselves. He writes this letter which, because of how puzzling and unintelligible it is for the recipients, is a clear antecedent to Jennings' letters home in Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings series:
Dear Father,—Please come down here as soon as you can. We’re in a regular row. I’m awfully afraid fifty pounds will not quite cover it.
Please try and come by the next train as the case comes on on Saturday, and there’s not much time. We saw the magistrate yesterday, and made a clean breast. I hope they won’t transport us. He was very jolly helping us find the scent, and gave us a stunning lunch. We ran the big hunt right through, and are pretty sure to get our names on the “Sociables” list. I wish you and mother could have seen the view on the top of Welkin Beacon. The awkward thing is that Tom White may get transported instead of us, and it would be jolly if you could come and get him off. Coote wasn’t in it, but he’s backing us up. How is Tike? I hope they wash him regularly. If I’m not transported, I shall be home in eight weeks and three days and will take him out for walks.
Love to mother, in which all join,—Your affectionate son, Basil.
P.S.—If you come, don’t take Fegan’s cab—he’s a cheat. Old White will drive you cheap. He’s Tom’s father. Georgie sends his love.
All in all, another pleasing school story by Talbot Baines Reed, treating themes like friendship and the responsibility of leadership, which I recommend to fans of the genre. show less
At this point in my reading of Talbot Baines Reed's novels it's clear that he wrote most of them according to the same formula. Many elements of this story were familiar after reading books like "The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's", "Tom, Dick And Harry" or "Follow My Leader (The Boys of Templeton)". However, it is a very enjoyable formula, at least in Reed's hands.
The story begins with the first day at a boarding school called Fellsgarth. We accompany a couple of new boys, Ashby and Fisher show more minor. They suffer the usual practical jokes reserved for new boys. For example, Ashby, to his great alarm, is told that, as school doesn't properly start until the following day, he will be expected to pay for the dinner he is currently eating in large quantities. Later, once in their House, it's a tradition that each new junior boys is made to sing in front of the whole House, as a sort of initiation called the "bleating of the lambs". In all this, Ashby, even though he is green as they come, makes a better impression than Fisher minor, who tries to give himself airs and pretend he is not green.
Talbot Reed is really good at showing us through the eyes of new boys how intimidating the school can appear when you are new: A whole strange society where everybody has their place and their friends, and knows the unwritten rules, except for the new boys. It's a big trope of the genre and Reed is not the writer who invented that genre, but he is the one who best developed it.
Another common theme in Reed's novels is the contrast between the humorous antics of the junior boys and the more serious pursuits of the senior boys. In this case, we soon learn that the school is deeply divided between the "Modern" and "Classic" Houses. The Classic boys have chosen (or, rather, their parents have chosen for them) a classical education, heavy on Latin and Greek, while the Modern boys receive an education with more focus on modern languages, science and accounting. In this case, the rivalry that divides the school does not only involve junior boys (like the Tadpoles and Guinea-pigs of St. Dominic's) but is also very strong smong senior boys. The school captain, Yorke, even though he is a Classic boy himself, tries to remain neutral and get the school to come together, but he has a most difficult task, due to the excessive pride and rivalries on both sides.
Things come to a head during an assembly where the officers of the school athletic clubs will be elected, and the Classic and Modern sides have competing candidates for each post. Ashby and Fisher minor, both Classic boys, get involved in a prank with other junior boys to get some Modern juniors to miss the assembly and thus help their side by suppressing some of the Modern voters. Knowledge of the prank escalates beyond the realm of junior boys and causes serious tension among the senior boys who lead both sides (after all, the junior boys involved were fags of some of the senior Classic boys, so it looked as if the Classic boys' leaders may have conspired to cheat at the election).
The rivalry between the two sides continues to grow until it interferes with the school team (the horror!). Yorke has to expel two Modern boys from the school rugby team and from then on the Modern boys refuse to play for the school, as long as they receive no apology.
While all this drama is going on, we have several other plot threads. One involves a master who successfully tries to repair some of the fractures between Moderns and Classics by convincing some of the most boisterous juniors from both sides to take over the school tuck shop together, and use it to raise funds for the school teams. Another involves suspected theft (a very common trope, too). Rollitt, a senior Classic boy who is a scholarship student and keeps himself mostly out of the school social life is suspected of stealing money belonging to the school clubs from Fisher major's study. Add to that several fights, confusion between two twin brothers, one of whom is a junior Classic boy and the other a junior Modern boy, school matches, a senior Modern boy who refuses to join the boycott of the school team and is sent to Coventry by his Modern peers, an unauthorized expedition to a nearby mountain where some junior boys get lost in bad weather and you have all the drama you can wish for.
It's a really entertaining novel, with humorous and dramatic moments and a happy ending. There's always something going on. This eventfulness is why the last few paragraphs of the novel are funny, after everything that has happened. The nine junior boys from both sides that we have been following, now friends despite half of them being Classics and the rest Moderns, are leaving school at the end of the term:
The story begins with the first day at a boarding school called Fellsgarth. We accompany a couple of new boys, Ashby and Fisher show more minor. They suffer the usual practical jokes reserved for new boys. For example, Ashby, to his great alarm, is told that, as school doesn't properly start until the following day, he will be expected to pay for the dinner he is currently eating in large quantities. Later, once in their House, it's a tradition that each new junior boys is made to sing in front of the whole House, as a sort of initiation called the "bleating of the lambs". In all this, Ashby, even though he is green as they come, makes a better impression than Fisher minor, who tries to give himself airs and pretend he is not green.
Talbot Reed is really good at showing us through the eyes of new boys how intimidating the school can appear when you are new: A whole strange society where everybody has their place and their friends, and knows the unwritten rules, except for the new boys. It's a big trope of the genre and Reed is not the writer who invented that genre, but he is the one who best developed it.
Another common theme in Reed's novels is the contrast between the humorous antics of the junior boys and the more serious pursuits of the senior boys. In this case, we soon learn that the school is deeply divided between the "Modern" and "Classic" Houses. The Classic boys have chosen (or, rather, their parents have chosen for them) a classical education, heavy on Latin and Greek, while the Modern boys receive an education with more focus on modern languages, science and accounting. In this case, the rivalry that divides the school does not only involve junior boys (like the Tadpoles and Guinea-pigs of St. Dominic's) but is also very strong smong senior boys. The school captain, Yorke, even though he is a Classic boy himself, tries to remain neutral and get the school to come together, but he has a most difficult task, due to the excessive pride and rivalries on both sides.
Things come to a head during an assembly where the officers of the school athletic clubs will be elected, and the Classic and Modern sides have competing candidates for each post. Ashby and Fisher minor, both Classic boys, get involved in a prank with other junior boys to get some Modern juniors to miss the assembly and thus help their side by suppressing some of the Modern voters. Knowledge of the prank escalates beyond the realm of junior boys and causes serious tension among the senior boys who lead both sides (after all, the junior boys involved were fags of some of the senior Classic boys, so it looked as if the Classic boys' leaders may have conspired to cheat at the election).
The rivalry between the two sides continues to grow until it interferes with the school team (the horror!). Yorke has to expel two Modern boys from the school rugby team and from then on the Modern boys refuse to play for the school, as long as they receive no apology.
While all this drama is going on, we have several other plot threads. One involves a master who successfully tries to repair some of the fractures between Moderns and Classics by convincing some of the most boisterous juniors from both sides to take over the school tuck shop together, and use it to raise funds for the school teams. Another involves suspected theft (a very common trope, too). Rollitt, a senior Classic boy who is a scholarship student and keeps himself mostly out of the school social life is suspected of stealing money belonging to the school clubs from Fisher major's study. Add to that several fights, confusion between two twin brothers, one of whom is a junior Classic boy and the other a junior Modern boy, school matches, a senior Modern boy who refuses to join the boycott of the school team and is sent to Coventry by his Modern peers, an unauthorized expedition to a nearby mountain where some junior boys get lost in bad weather and you have all the drama you can wish for.
It's a really entertaining novel, with humorous and dramatic moments and a happy ending. There's always something going on. This eventfulness is why the last few paragraphs of the novel are funny, after everything that has happened. The nine junior boys from both sides that we have been following, now friends despite half of them being Classics and the rest Moderns, are leaving school at the end of the term:
show less
It took some little time to arrange matters on the omnibus, as one or two innocent middle-boys had had the audacity to occupy the box-seat and the row behind, and had to be cajoled or pulled down. How could any one dare, when those two seats just held nine, to imagine that they were not sacred property?
“That’s better,” said Wally, when at last the party were safely up, with two rugs over their eighteen knees, and a gross of brandy-balls circulating for the common comfort. “Touch ’em up, driver. Give ’em their heads! I tell you what, you chaps, this has been rather a slow half. I vote we have some larks next term.”
“Rather!” chimed in the chorus.
Another very enjoyable public school story by Talbot Baines Reed. This is the third one I have read by this author, after "The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's" and "Tom, Dick And Harry". The level of quality in this one is similar, although there is less focus on humorous elements in this one (no Tadpoles and Guinea-Pigs here, no Philosophical Conversation Club). However, Reed still has a good pen for humor when he wants. Take for instance this passage where, for reasons I won't detail, a boy show more called George Heathcote has got the idea that he ought to misbehave in a very spectacular way. He decides to walk on the school roofs for the amusement of his schoolmates below, in the company of his friend Coote, who is extremely reluctant to this dangerous pastime but does not want to lose face:
P. G. Wodehouse said that the public school story was far more difficult to write than any other story, because you cannot use the great mainstays of fiction: love and adventure. He went on to say that the worst of school life from the point of view of the writer is that nothing ever happens. I agree with the first statement, and I would amend the second to say that dramatic things happen but they are always within a limited range of things, and that's why after reading a good number of public school stories like I'm doing, you notice how some themes become recurrent.
For example, in The Boys of Templeton we have the new junior boys at school, who after ruling the roost in their elementary school come to a big public school where they are among the youngest and least in status. They come with high hopes and nervousness, and they have to learn the ropes and suffer some mostly good-natured hazing and practical jokes. In this novel, these new boys are three friends: Richardson (often called Dick because of his surname), Heathcote and Coote. These boys were inseparable on their old school. Dick is the leader of their society (hence the title, Follow My Leader), and the other two are followers. We see them as they travel to Templeton school to take their access exam. They are a high-spirited bunch, always impulsive and finding it easy to get in trouble, but they are intimidated by these new surroundings. Two of them will get into Templeton right away, and third one will fail the exam and try again later. So we follow the beginnings of their school career at Templeton, and how they have to find their place in it.
At the same time, the book tells the story of a battle for the soul of the school between sixth form boys: those who have the good of the school at heart and some who have a deep disregard for the school and its rules, and seek to undermine them, even corrupting younger boys. When I say "corrupt" I do not mean that in any kind of sexual way: these stories are innocent of sexuality, as befits a late Victorian novel. I mean making them adopt a cynical worldview which will not allow them to do to make any real effort in academical or sport matters and only seek to enjoy themselves at the expense of the rules. The main example of this is a cynical and manipulative sixth-form boy named Pledge. When Heathcote becomes his fag, his soul is in moral danger. On the other side this war are most of the other prefects (called monitors here). We have the head boy, Ponty, who is universally loved and admired but who doesn't have the energy for reform that Templeton requires. When Ponty graduates, the new head boy, Mansfield, is much less popular, but he is the right man at the right place, and he has all the energy required for a war against Pledge and company, ably helped by some other senior boys.
So, our three junior heroes are in moral danger. Dick's leadership among this small group of friends fails, and the boys do not do well and get in serious trouble, and even start falling apart. However, Heathcote has the worst of it, and finally Dick comes to notice it, realizes that he is as much to blame for it as anybody, and resolves to put remedy to it, save their friendship and help Heathcote.
This theme of a battle for a boy's soul, endangered by bad influences, is a staple of the genre. It features in different degrees in many of these books, from Tom Brown's Schooldays to Eric. In Talbot Baines Reed's stories, of course, it's handled in a more subtle and agreeable manner than in Eric. Here, no matter how Pledge mocks the monitors as "saintly", there is no excessive moralism or religiosity. There is no preaching from the author. The boys on the right side of this fight are still all boys, boisterous and fun-loving, which makes for enjoyable reading and makes the reader cheer for them.
One memorable moment of the book happens when the three young friends, eager to recover their good name and the respect of their peers, decide to run in the "Templeton hunt", which is a sport event where some boys, all excellent runners, called the "hares" start a long run across the countryside, leaving papers as their "scent", so that they can be followed by the pack of "hunters", a larger group of school runners who will try to follow their track and catch up with them before they can return to the school after a run of more than twelve miles. Obviously only the most athletic senior boys can really keep up with a run like this, but our three young heroes make such an epic and honest effort of it that they earn back everyone's respect.
Nevertheless, Pledge will not resign himself to be defeated. At the same time the boys are suffering the consequences of some trouble they got into months ago and that is coming back to haunt them, so much so that at one point Dick decides to write to his father for help. This is unusual in these stories, since the boys are usually eager to solve their problems by themselves. He writes this letter which, because of how puzzling and unintelligible it is for the recipients, is a clear antecedent to Jennings' letters home in Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings series:
All in all, another pleasing school story by Talbot Baines Reed, treating themes like friendship and the responsibility of leadership, which I recommend to fans of the genre. show less
“Tell you what’ll be a lark, Coote,” said Heathcote, as the two strode on, arm in arm, followed by a small crowd of juniors, who, seeing they were “on the swagger,” hoped to be in the sport as spectators. “Tell you what; we’ll have a walk round the roofs. I know where we can get up. We can get nearly all round the Quad. Won’t it be a spree?”
Coote looked as delighted as he could, and said he hoped they wouldn’t be caught, or there might be a row.
“Bless you, no one’s about to-day. Come on. Nobody’s done it since Fitch fell off a year ago, and he only got half round.”
Coote was inwardly most reluctant to deprive the late Master Fitch of his hard-earned laurels, and even hinted as much. But Heathcote was in no humour for paltering. He was playing a high game, and Coote must play, too.
So they gave their followers the slip, and dodged their way back to the Quad, and made for the first staircase next to the Great Gate. Up here they crept, hurriedly and stealthily. One or two boys met them on the way, but Georgie swaggered past them, as though bound to pay an ordinary morning call on some occupant of the top floor. The top floor of all was dedicated to the use of the maids, who at that hour of the day were too much occupied elsewhere in making beds and filling jugs, to be at all inconvenient.
Heathcote, who, considering he had never made the expedition before, was wonderfully well up in the geography of the place, piloted Coote up a sort of ladder which ended in a trap-door in the ceiling of the garret.
“I know it’s up here,” he said. “Raggles told me it was the way Fitch got up.”
“Oh!” said Coote, hanging tight on to the ladder with both arms, and trusting that, whichever way they ascended, they might select a different mode of descent from that adopted by the unfortunate Fitch.
P. G. Wodehouse said that the public school story was far more difficult to write than any other story, because you cannot use the great mainstays of fiction: love and adventure. He went on to say that the worst of school life from the point of view of the writer is that nothing ever happens. I agree with the first statement, and I would amend the second to say that dramatic things happen but they are always within a limited range of things, and that's why after reading a good number of public school stories like I'm doing, you notice how some themes become recurrent.
For example, in The Boys of Templeton we have the new junior boys at school, who after ruling the roost in their elementary school come to a big public school where they are among the youngest and least in status. They come with high hopes and nervousness, and they have to learn the ropes and suffer some mostly good-natured hazing and practical jokes. In this novel, these new boys are three friends: Richardson (often called Dick because of his surname), Heathcote and Coote. These boys were inseparable on their old school. Dick is the leader of their society (hence the title, Follow My Leader), and the other two are followers. We see them as they travel to Templeton school to take their access exam. They are a high-spirited bunch, always impulsive and finding it easy to get in trouble, but they are intimidated by these new surroundings. Two of them will get into Templeton right away, and third one will fail the exam and try again later. So we follow the beginnings of their school career at Templeton, and how they have to find their place in it.
At the same time, the book tells the story of a battle for the soul of the school between sixth form boys: those who have the good of the school at heart and some who have a deep disregard for the school and its rules, and seek to undermine them, even corrupting younger boys. When I say "corrupt" I do not mean that in any kind of sexual way: these stories are innocent of sexuality, as befits a late Victorian novel. I mean making them adopt a cynical worldview which will not allow them to do to make any real effort in academical or sport matters and only seek to enjoy themselves at the expense of the rules. The main example of this is a cynical and manipulative sixth-form boy named Pledge. When Heathcote becomes his fag, his soul is in moral danger. On the other side this war are most of the other prefects (called monitors here). We have the head boy, Ponty, who is universally loved and admired but who doesn't have the energy for reform that Templeton requires. When Ponty graduates, the new head boy, Mansfield, is much less popular, but he is the right man at the right place, and he has all the energy required for a war against Pledge and company, ably helped by some other senior boys.
So, our three junior heroes are in moral danger. Dick's leadership among this small group of friends fails, and the boys do not do well and get in serious trouble, and even start falling apart. However, Heathcote has the worst of it, and finally Dick comes to notice it, realizes that he is as much to blame for it as anybody, and resolves to put remedy to it, save their friendship and help Heathcote.
This theme of a battle for a boy's soul, endangered by bad influences, is a staple of the genre. It features in different degrees in many of these books, from Tom Brown's Schooldays to Eric. In Talbot Baines Reed's stories, of course, it's handled in a more subtle and agreeable manner than in Eric. Here, no matter how Pledge mocks the monitors as "saintly", there is no excessive moralism or religiosity. There is no preaching from the author. The boys on the right side of this fight are still all boys, boisterous and fun-loving, which makes for enjoyable reading and makes the reader cheer for them.
One memorable moment of the book happens when the three young friends, eager to recover their good name and the respect of their peers, decide to run in the "Templeton hunt", which is a sport event where some boys, all excellent runners, called the "hares" start a long run across the countryside, leaving papers as their "scent", so that they can be followed by the pack of "hunters", a larger group of school runners who will try to follow their track and catch up with them before they can return to the school after a run of more than twelve miles. Obviously only the most athletic senior boys can really keep up with a run like this, but our three young heroes make such an epic and honest effort of it that they earn back everyone's respect.
Nevertheless, Pledge will not resign himself to be defeated. At the same time the boys are suffering the consequences of some trouble they got into months ago and that is coming back to haunt them, so much so that at one point Dick decides to write to his father for help. This is unusual in these stories, since the boys are usually eager to solve their problems by themselves. He writes this letter which, because of how puzzling and unintelligible it is for the recipients, is a clear antecedent to Jennings' letters home in Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings series:
Dear Father,—Please come down here as soon as you can. We’re in a regular row. I’m awfully afraid fifty pounds will not quite cover it.
Please try and come by the next train as the case comes on on Saturday, and there’s not much time. We saw the magistrate yesterday, and made a clean breast. I hope they won’t transport us. He was very jolly helping us find the scent, and gave us a stunning lunch. We ran the big hunt right through, and are pretty sure to get our names on the “Sociables” list. I wish you and mother could have seen the view on the top of Welkin Beacon. The awkward thing is that Tom White may get transported instead of us, and it would be jolly if you could come and get him off. Coote wasn’t in it, but he’s backing us up. How is Tike? I hope they wash him regularly. If I’m not transported, I shall be home in eight weeks and three days and will take him out for walks.
Love to mother, in which all join,—Your affectionate son, Basil.
P.S.—If you come, don’t take Fegan’s cab—he’s a cheat. Old White will drive you cheap. He’s Tom’s father. Georgie sends his love.
All in all, another pleasing school story by Talbot Baines Reed, treating themes like friendship and the responsibility of leadership, which I recommend to fans of the genre. show less
Another boys' boarding school story by Talbot Baines Reed. This was a genre very popular among young readers in the UK during the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Now it is mostly forgotten, although you can detect heavy influences of the conventions of the genre on modern middle grade fantasy books like the Harry Potter series. Talbot Baines Reed did not create the genre but he was perhaps the author who best developed it as a form of entertainment rather than as show more moralistic tales.
In this novel, for a change the main character is a master rather than the students. Reed's novels tend to be coral, so we see events from the point of view of some of the boys too, but it's a novelty that the readers are asked to see things from a teacher's point of view.
Mark Railsford is a young gentleman who has just become engaged. He is also ready to start working after finishing his studies and spending some time travelling the world. He is accepted as a teacher and house master at a boarding school called Grandcourt where, by coincidence, one of his pupils will be Arthur Herapath, his fiancee's little brother.
Arthur, a boisterous young teenager, along with his best friend Dig, also known as Baronet Sir Digby Oakshott, intend to make the most out of having his future brother in law as house master. They are good-natured and fun-loving boys, not very bright academically.
As we often see things from the new teacher's point of view, there has to be obstacles for him, and so we witness his difficulties in motivating the boys in his house and building a good working relationship with his prefects. Also, one of his fellow masters is very disagreeable and treats him with hostility. At some point, that unsympathetic master is attacked by surprise and locked in a cupboard in Railford's House. An aggression against a master is an extremely serious breach of discipline. All the boys in the House are interrogated and none will admit to having any knowledge about the attack. The whole House falls in disgrace and the headmaster imposes serious sanctions on them, until the culprit confesses or is found. Among other things, they are no longer allowed to take part in any school sport, something seen as terrible in such a sports-crazy environment.
The culprit is not caught and morale starts getting low. However, Mr. Railsford and his prefects get over their differences and work together for the good of the house, motivating the boys to show that no punishment will kill their spirit. For example, if they are not allowed to take part in the school athletics competition, then they will organize, train on their own and then hold their own House competition, where they intend to beat the best mark from the school competition in as many categories as possible. Little by little, their House spirit grows, until they are a united and highly motivated group.
However, at some point, the mystery thickens as some evidence appears that Mr. Railsford himself may be involved or at least have some knowledge on the attack on his fellow teacher.
Those are the main dramatic events that will be solved during the novel, as the House falls in disgrace and gets on its feet again, and we find out who was involved in the attack and whether Mr. Railsford will succeed as a teacher or will be forced to leave the school.
As all his schools stories, I found this one very entertaining and readable. The old-fashioned language was not an obstacle, because Reed was a skilled and effective writer. He was writing for boys and he is always direct and entertaining, but he is also funny and elegant in his narration whenever he needs it. Still, this was not my favorite one among his novels. Maybe it's because he has to make the job difficult for his teacher main character, so he makes the boy protagonists less likable than usual in the beginning, although that changes later on. Nevertheless, a rather likable novel.
By the way, if you're wondering at the title, the "Shell", at some schools, is the name of a form typically below the most senior forms (the Fifth and Sixth Forms) but above the junior forms (the Fourth Form). Mr. Railsford, in addition to being a house-master, also teaches the Shell. show less
In this novel, for a change the main character is a master rather than the students. Reed's novels tend to be coral, so we see events from the point of view of some of the boys too, but it's a novelty that the readers are asked to see things from a teacher's point of view.
Mark Railsford is a young gentleman who has just become engaged. He is also ready to start working after finishing his studies and spending some time travelling the world. He is accepted as a teacher and house master at a boarding school called Grandcourt where, by coincidence, one of his pupils will be Arthur Herapath, his fiancee's little brother.
Arthur, a boisterous young teenager, along with his best friend Dig, also known as Baronet Sir Digby Oakshott, intend to make the most out of having his future brother in law as house master. They are good-natured and fun-loving boys, not very bright academically.
As we often see things from the new teacher's point of view, there has to be obstacles for him, and so we witness his difficulties in motivating the boys in his house and building a good working relationship with his prefects. Also, one of his fellow masters is very disagreeable and treats him with hostility. At some point, that unsympathetic master is attacked by surprise and locked in a cupboard in Railford's House. An aggression against a master is an extremely serious breach of discipline. All the boys in the House are interrogated and none will admit to having any knowledge about the attack. The whole House falls in disgrace and the headmaster imposes serious sanctions on them, until the culprit confesses or is found. Among other things, they are no longer allowed to take part in any school sport, something seen as terrible in such a sports-crazy environment.
The culprit is not caught and morale starts getting low. However, Mr. Railsford and his prefects get over their differences and work together for the good of the house, motivating the boys to show that no punishment will kill their spirit. For example, if they are not allowed to take part in the school athletics competition, then they will organize, train on their own and then hold their own House competition, where they intend to beat the best mark from the school competition in as many categories as possible. Little by little, their House spirit grows, until they are a united and highly motivated group.
However, at some point, the mystery thickens as some evidence appears that Mr. Railsford himself may be involved or at least have some knowledge on the attack on his fellow teacher.
Those are the main dramatic events that will be solved during the novel, as the House falls in disgrace and gets on its feet again, and we find out who was involved in the attack and whether Mr. Railsford will succeed as a teacher or will be forced to leave the school.
As all his schools stories, I found this one very entertaining and readable. The old-fashioned language was not an obstacle, because Reed was a skilled and effective writer. He was writing for boys and he is always direct and entertaining, but he is also funny and elegant in his narration whenever he needs it. Still, this was not my favorite one among his novels. Maybe it's because he has to make the job difficult for his teacher main character, so he makes the boy protagonists less likable than usual in the beginning, although that changes later on. Nevertheless, a rather likable novel.
By the way, if you're wondering at the title, the "Shell", at some schools, is the name of a form typically below the most senior forms (the Fifth and Sixth Forms) but above the junior forms (the Fourth Form). Mr. Railsford, in addition to being a house-master, also teaches the Shell. show less
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