Katharine Hull, born London, 18 July 1921, died November 1977
Pamela Whitlock, born Penang, Malaysia, 21 Mar 1920, died 3 June 1982

Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock went to St Mary’s Convent in Ascot, where they wrote their first book, at the ages of 14 and 15.  Although at the same school, they were in different boarding houses, and did not meet properly until they were caught out in a rainstorm.  Their first book - The Far Distant Oxus - was written in a strange turn and turn about fashion.  Each wrote a chapter in turn until they finished, when they revised each other’s chapters.  Despite this unusual genesis, the book does not read at all as if it was cobbled together:   Arthur Ransome, to whom the girls send the book when they had finished it, took it to his own publishers, Jonathan Cape, saying: “I’ve got this year’s best children’s book under my arm.”

The Far Distant Oxus is a holiday story with ponies, camping and adventure, set on Exmoor, and is full of adventure, but also realistic.  The books have generally met with critical acclaim, with their “almost paradisical impression of deeply shared pleasure” despite their overcoming of difficulties owing more to wish fulfilment than to realism.  Valerie Brinkley-Willsher said:  “... [It has] a direct clear style but... The characterisation is less detailed and deep than it might be, and the children have a tendency to make speeches rather than to talk.”

The books are not classic pony books - indeed the ponies are vehicles in all senses of the word!  This is not true of the short stories Pamela Whitlock wrote, which are very well worth seeking out.  They are fine, subtle pieces of work.

Finding the books:  Fidra Books are re-publishing the Oxus series, with the full original text (both the Collins editions were abridged).  None of the books are easy or cheap to find in hardback: the Armada paperback can be picked up reasonably cheaply.  The short stories can be tricky to find.  Prices vary wildly for Pony Club Annuals.

Sources:
20th Century Children’s Writers, ed Tracy Chevalier,1989, 3rd edn.
Where Texts and Children Meet, Bearne & Watson
Fidra Books

The Far Distant Oxus

Jonathan Cape, London, 1937, illus Pamela Whitlock

Macmillan, New York, 1938, illus Charles E. Pont (right)

Below:  US endpapers

Collins 1978, unabridged (left)
Collins 1960, slightly abridged
Armada Lions pb, 1971

“Three children are staying at a farmhouse on Exmoor; the meet others of their own kind and are presently having all sorts of adventures, mostly on horseback, but also on a raft.  They build a house, win a black pig by knocking down skittles at a fair, explore by day and by night, csatch wild ponies, float down a river (the Oxus) to the sea, get home in a borrowed pony card, light beacon fires on the hilltops and generally have the sort of hiliday that everyone would like to have if they could.

Bibliography

Oxus in Summer
Jonathan Cape, London, 1939, illus Pamela Whitlock

USA: Macmillan, New York, 1940, illus Charles E Pont
New Adventure Library, 1963

Another summer holiday on Exmoor:  “The camp
at Peran-Wisa burns and has to be rebuilt. The
children enter into the summer activities at Cloud
Farm. They help with hay-making and a rat hunt. They watch sheep dog trials.
They join a scavenger hunt in the village, make new friends and win prizes.
When Maurice manages to buy, at a local auction, a Persian dagger that
they all want, and dashes off with it, there follow days of wild pursuit with much
baffling scheming on both sides. The adventure story ends with the Clevertons
arriving and Maurice disappearing.”

Escape to Persia
Jonathan Cape, London, 1938, illus Pamela Whitlock
USA:  Macmillan, 1939, illus Charles E. Pont

About the same six children as Oxus, this one sees them
“at first in London with a well-meaning aunt.  The Hunterly children
persuade her into a rash wager that the three of them cannot get
down to Exmoor by themselves. The feat is accomplished and
then their adventures really begin. This time it is spring, but the
Oxus still splashes down the falls below their hut in the wood,
and though Persia exists only for
a fortnight, every day brings
excitement.

Peran-Wisa is repaired; a canal is
dug; a strange tribe of pygmies
found spying and routed; and the
identity of the mysterious Maurice
is almost revealed. The holiday
ends with a grand ceremonial
banquet and the children who have
made the lands of the Far Distant
Oxus their special playground,
pledge themselves with a blood-rite
in their river. “

Left - UK edition internal illustration

Right - US edition

Crowns
Jonathan Cape, London, 1947

illustrated by Pamela Whitlock

Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for the picture.

“This is about four ordinary, quite nice, quite nasty children. They are cousins and know each other well,
though two live in London and two in the country. They don't catch spies, or find treasure, or camp alone, or
do anything at all extraordinary. They do go to school during the term and come home in the holidays, and
go to bed at night and get up in the morning. Live everyone else they talk a lot, and often imagine impossible
things when they are in the midst of possible ones..... The four cousins meet on Boxing Day when their
Grandmother gives a party. In this world of crackers and balloons and Christmas trees they have to behave
in the normal way with everyone else, but when they are alone they can take each other into the world which
is in their minds and become there crowned kings and queens and do exactly as they like.”

Short Stories:

Pamela Whitlock:  Catsmeat Pony, illus Joan Wanklyn
Pony Club Annual, 1950

Ron and Marty have come from a town and now live on Dartmoor.  Marty befriends a
Dartmoor pony, whom she calls Boney, because she is, and she is always on the
outside of the herd. Marty finds out the ponies are going to be round up and sold, and
she is convinced Boney will be sold for catsmeat unless she and Ron can catch her first.

Pamela Whitlock:  The Great Desire
Pony Club Annual no. 5
Elizabeth wants a pony of her own:  a foal, and she intends to try and buy one at
the farm sale.

Pamela Whitlock:  Rare Bridget, illus Margery Gill
Pony Club Annual 12

Jane’s ambition is to race, so she is seriously

miffed to be given slow Biddy to ride.

The Oxus Series
The Far Distant Oxus
Escape to Persia

Oxus in Summer