Percy F. Westerman in the Little Library at Athelhampton House & Gardens
- Juliet Braidwood
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Most visitors to the Little Library at Athelhampton House & Gardens these days haven’t heard of Percy F. Westerman, and don't know why so many of his books sit on the shelves in this room. A prolific writer of boys adventure stories through the first half of the 20th Century, Westerman averaged 3.6 books a year over the course of 50 years. He spent much of his life living in a houseboat in Wareham, not far from Athelhampton.
His writing career began in 1908. After complaining to his wife that the book he was reading their son (who was ill in bed with chicken pox) was "tosh", she bet him half a crown that he couldn’t write a better book. He successfully wrote and published A Lad of Grit, and so began a writing career that would sell more than 1.5 million books in his lifetime.
Here at Athelhampton we now house the Percy F. Westerman collection, curated over many years by Nigel Gossop. Containing a copy of each book ever written by Westerman, this collection provides a valuable insight into some of the most popular books consumed by teenage boys a hundred years ago.
Within the boys’ adventure genre, Westerman wrote historical fiction, war stories, travel stories, and futuristic science fiction. His books all have certain commonalities: often, there are two young heroes with an older mentor figure; they tend not to have gone to university or any kind of well known public school; and recurring characters are relatively rare.
The middle classness and relative lack of education of Westerman’s heroes, compared to characters in other adventure stories of the time, possibly contributed to the popularity of his books. Such characters were more accessible to the boys who devoured such novels. The aspirational and incredibly popular public school novel was something that seemed to interest Westerman very little: it wasn’t something he particularly wrote.
Instead, he prioritised new technology, far off lands, and distant times, while also writing what was familiar to him: sailing, and nearby places.
Westerman’s books weren’t without their flaws. The writing doesn’t translate overly well to the present day - the opening paragraph of First Over (1948) reads:
Moreover, many of the novels contain a deeply colonial aspect, in which England is naturally the superior nation. Adventures take place in fictional South American and Eastern European countries in which the English adventurers bring order and peace to chaos and war. The White Arab features a Lawrence of Arabia-esque main character, possibly based either on T. E. Lawrence, who lived nearby at Clouds Hill, or on Captain William Henry Irevine Shakespear, a pupil at Portsmouth Grammar School when Westerman was also there.
World War One, meanwhile is characterised as being “a thundering good time with plenty of excitement,” despite Westerman’s visiting injured soldiers and ensuing friendships with some of them.
These, perhaps, are some of the reasons they haven’t survived into the modern consciousness in the same way as other books of their time.
The legacy of Westerman’s historical fiction lives on. While set in far off times, his historical novels tend to be set in places he was familiar with, featuring tenacious heroes whose courage and daring win the day. Giles’s Anne of Athelhampton series follows these same principles, acting as a fitting descendant to Westerman’s work.
Come and see Percy Westerman's books for yourself, newly installed in the Little Library at Athelhampton! Athelhampton House & Gardens are open every day, all year round, save for a few days at Christmas.
