Frank Snell

Frank Snell of Bideford, North Devon corresponded with Frank Richards from 1946 to 1952, and then I have in my possession one letter dated 1957 (from which I can tell that there were some further letters (at least one) in the interim, which are not in my possession).

Mr Snell was a bachelor, and seemed to be very much into bowls (the game).  His side of the correspondence with Frank Richards is even more voluminous, some letters spanning pages.   From it we gather that he was very fond of dogs, loved his town of Bideford and North Devon in general, and was an aspiring amateur writer (who contributed to the early Collectors Digest magazine, and also was editor of some bowling oriented journals, besides trying to write stories mostly having to do with sports).  He tried his hand at a fiction story, and it is this that our Frank critiques in one of the Frank Richard letter responses.  In another a friend of his passed away, which elicited some more reflective thoughts by our author on belief.

After Mr Snell saw a pic of our author, he vouchsafed the opinion that he had pictured him as a Dr Locke (and that Frank did not resemble that gentleman). This elicited the response from Frank that in the light externals he was like him (generous and caring). Also Mr Snell hinted that he would like to visit Rose Lawn, to which Frank replied that his house-keeper was given the task of giving 'the bird' as he was too  busy to see everyone and therefore must decline.   In a further letter he refers to 'the Guardian' (which meant his housekeeper Ms Edith Hood).

There are some other interesting content in these letters, including Hamilton's  bicycling trips to the North Devon region while a youth, and when there was no traffic on the roads.   Both correspondents seemed to wax eloquent of a picturesque  Devon town along the coast called Clovelly, with Mr Snell (in his letters) asking that the author take Harry Wharton & Co to it in a post-war Bunter story.....unfortunately this was never to come to fruition!

Frank recalled  his dog Micky and the adventures they had together ....and other dogs he had once owned, including one called Mick and Caesar.

Also some thoughts on his stay in London during the Blitz (world war 2).  In one letter Frank Richards mentions that he utilized several makes of typewriters from 1901 to 1903, but that he then consistently stayed with the Remington make from 1903,  and used no other.  He mentions the  Barlock (really Bar-lock) typewriter which had been rather cumbersome to use.

All in all, I was very pleased to have these original letters in my possession, obviously for the Frank Richards letters...but also the ones from Mr Frank Snell (which provided a better context to what our author responded). In one letter, it is mentioned by Frank that he is enclosing a photo of himself and his cat Sammy.

In another he autographed a copy of The autobiography of Frank Richards for Mr Snell.   Wish I had that too, but one can't have everything!

Letters-

In his collection Naveed has copies of both letters sent by Frank Snell to Hamilton and the replies. You can read the replies via the links below-

FR Letter to Frank Snell 15th December 1946    FR Letter to Frank Snell 5th July 1947    FR Letter to Frank Snell 10th July 1947    FR Letter to Frank Snell 24th September 1947

FR Letter to Frank Snell 31st October 1947    FR Letter to Frank Snell 28th November 1947    FR Letter to Frank Snell 4th January 1948    FR Letter to Frank Snell 8th January 1948

FR Letter to Frank Snell 17th February 1948    FR Letter to Frank Snell 24th February 1948    FR Letter to Frank Snell 9th March 1948   FR Letter to Frank Snell 10th May 1948

FR Letter to Frank Snell 9th July 1948    FR Letter to Frank Snell 21st November 1948    FR Letter to Frank Snell 30th March 1949    FR Letter to Frank Snell 2nd May 1949

FR Letter to Frank Snell 21st May 1949    FR Letter to Frank Snell 27th June 1949   FR Letter to Frank Snell 14th October 1949    FR Letter to Frank Snell 22nd October 1949

FR Letter to Frank Snell 24th November 1950    FR Letter to Frank Snell 30th December 1950    FR Letter to Frank Snell 20th February 1951    FR Letter to Frank Snell 23rf February 1951

FR Letter to Frank Snell 17th April 1952    FR Letter to Frank Snell 26th April 1952    FR Letter to Frank Snell 5th February 1957

Frank exchanged a few letters with Hamilton and Co, publishers of the Goldhawk books. You can read them via the links below-

Hamilton and Co 5th May 1952    Hamilton and Co 8th May 1952     Hamilton and Co 9th May 1952

And finally a circular from Charles Skilton

Skilton circular Aug 12 1947 re- 1st Bunter book