D. L. G. Stainton / Guy Leslie / John Southcombe

John Southcombe is an author from my file of "mysteries that have me mystified". He contributed a handful of stories to annuals published by Boardman in the 1950s but is otherwise absent from any publication that has been indexed. The logical explanation is that he is not a real person... but if that's the case, who was behind the pen-name?

I wonder if Southcombe was another pen-name for D. L. G. Stainton, who was a contemporary also writing for many of the same annuals. Notably, Stainton used the pen-name Guy Leslie to pen half of the text stories in the later Boardman annual, which also contained multiple stories by Southcombe.

Donald Leslie Guy Stainton served in the Royal Army Service Corps.—the transport corps—during the Second World War. A cadet in 1942, he rose to the rank of 2nd Lt. on 16 May 1942. He was later listed as a Lieutenant (Hon Capt.) in 1950.

Born in York in 1919, the son of Lesley Arnold Stainton (1892-1974) and his wife Gladys May (nee Creaser, 1895?-1964). He had a younger sister, Gladys V. Stainton, born 1924. The family lived in Muswell Hill, London, in the 1920s and 1930s.

Stainton was married to Marion Rose Partridge (b. 10 March 1921) in Fulham, London, in 1940. They were living at 72 Niton Street, Fulham SW6 in the 1950s/60s. He later moved to Bexhill-on-Sea, E. Sussex, where his wife died in 2002.

PUBLICATIONS

Short Stories as D. L. G. Stainton
The Case of the Disappearing Gangsters (Okay Adventure Annual, 1956)
The Unwilling Hero (Okay Adventure Annual, 1956)
The Atomic Aeroplane (Okay Adventure Annual, 1956)
The Secret of Grey Range (Treasure Story Book for Girls, 1956?)
Menace on Wheels (Speed Stories for Boys, 1957)
(title unknown) (Garland Story Book for Girls, 1957)
The Guardian of the Devil's Cave (Giant Story Book for Boys, 1957)
The Sea Witch (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1958)
The Kidnapped Millionaire (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1958)
The Air Pirates (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1958)
Intrigue at Cannes (The New Parade for Girls, 1959)
Myra Makes the Grade (The New Parade for Girls, 1959)
The Vanishing Gangsters (The Big Parade for Boys, 1959)
The Forbidden Island (The Big Parade for Boys, 1959)

Short Stories as Guy Leslie
Heroes of the Sea (The Horizon Book for Boys, 1957?)
What an Exhibition (The New Parade for Girls, 1959)
A Friend in Darkness (The New Parade for Girls, 1959)
Mystery on the Marshes (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1959)
Jet Age Safari (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1959)
The Submarine Hunters (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1959)
Jungle Adventure (The New Target Book for Boys, 1960)
Highland Christmas (The New Target Book for Girls, 1960)

??Short Stories by John Southcombe (ascription uncertain)
Pirate Island (Ajax Adventure Annual, 1952)
Jungle Flight (The Adventure Annual, 1953)
In Search of the Abominable Snowman (Okay Adventure Annual, 1955)
The Raiders of Busangar (Okay Adventure Annual, 1956)
The Pride of the Tremars (Okay Adventure Annual, 1956)
Mutiny on the "Merrydown" (Okay Adventure Annual, 1957)
Orders to Wellington (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1958)
The Glittering Hod of Nigai (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1958)
Red Rock Revenge (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1958)
Desert Danger (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1959)
The King's Casket (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1959)
The Circles West Feud (Okay Annual of Adventure Stories, 1959)

Comics
Night Raider (Commando 35, Sep 1962, art by Matias Alonso)
Duel in the Sky (Commando 47, Dec 1962, art by Ferran Sostres)
Rogue Bomber (Commando 88, Oct 1963, art by Ferran Sostres)
Desert Ace (Commando 96, Dec 1963, art by Medrano)
Killer with Wings (Commando 103, Feb 1964, art by Peter Ford)