Richmal Crompton

Richmal Crompton was a well known English novelist, who liked to write children's books and adult fiction. She was particularly popular for writing the long-running Just William book series, which were published during the early and mid 20th century. Crompton was also a teacher and a writer of humorous short stories and fictional stories for adults to a lesser extent.

The best place to start is the William series, the earliest of Richmal Crompton's multi-book series: it opens with Just William (1922) and runs to 42 books across 1922–2016, ending with William at War (2016).

Richmal Crompton has 73 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1922 and 2025. 44 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the William series with 42 books — and 29 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Richmal Crompton's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are William (1922–2016, 42 books) and Jimmy (1998–2000, 2 books).

This guide splits Richmal Crompton's 73 books into 2 named series and 29 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: William (42 books, 1922–2016); Jimmy (2 books, 1998–2000).