The Captain

In his introduction, Chris Harte examines the origins of The Captain in the growth of "Muscular Christianity", with its emphasis on athleticism that influenced public schools and the military and was spread to the corners of the British Empire in the latter half of the 19th century. It was aided by the emphasis of sporting stories, especially tales centred around cricket, in papers such as The Captain, which debuted in April 1899, adding to a small group of quality papers aimed at young men that already included Boy's Own Paper and Chums.

The Captain ran from 1899 to 1924, a total of 300 monthly issues, although its heyday was prior to the beginning of the Great War. As Harte notes, the following four years saw a fall of around 90% of subscribers. "Most of the writers had done their best work by 1914. They were to go on writing into the next decade but none of their later fiction had much impact on the world." Early writers such as P. G. Wodehouse (whose Psmith stories were serialised in The Captain) disappeared from its pages. Editor R. S. Warren Bell named his favourites among the contributors to the first 100 issues, including Wodehouse, Frederick Swainson, John Mackie and Hedley Hervey, of whom only Mackie made a contribution after the war (and then to only one post-war volume).

The post-war world changed around The Captain, leading to its demise, although its early influence in shaping those that changed the world cannot be dismissed when three-quarters of secondary school-aged boys—and many girls—read the magazine every month.

Harte's The Captain: A History, Index and Bibliography is a 394-page brick of a book, that introduces the paper, its publisher and editors. The bulk of the book, some 250 pages, is dedicated to an issue-by-issue listing of the stories, serials, articles and illustrations in each monthly issue. There are 150 brief biographical sketches of authors, along with a list of some 1,300 other contributing writers, followed by a similar breakdown of illustrators, with 150 receiving brief sketches and a further 500 or so listed.

In a postscript, Harte briefly covers the history of the paper and its emphasis on the military, from the long tail of the Boar War, which helped shape attitudes to foreigners, to the Great War. Public schools and their captains were a regular feature during the era of Warren Bell, who also instituted The Captain Club, less so under Reeves Shaw who took his place in 1910. Shaw saw the magazine struggle through the war, through paper shortages and price rises. The popular Captain Club was disbanded.

Reeves Shaw left in 1922, The Captain continuing for two more years under his former assistant editor, Augustus Baker. But the paper's time had gone and it folded without fanfare with its March 1924 issue.

The book is solidly produced with a wealth of photos of contributors and covers. Chris Harte is to be congratulated for a thorough and entertaining read.

The Captain: A History, Index and Bibliography by Chris Harte. Sports History Publishing ISBN 978-189801913-5, 1 February 2021, 394pp, £10.95. Available from the author, price £13.00 including p&p. Make cheques payable to Chris Harte, Braemar House, St. David's Avenue, Carmarthen, SA31 3DN, Wales. The book is limited to 100 numbered copies.