His first short story Told at Totely: A Romance of the Small-pox Hospital, was printed on March 10, 1887, in the Sheffield Weekly Telegraph under the pen name Stain Cortley.

He continued to write for the Sheffield papers, mostly stories of medical interest, local antiquarian or historical nature.

[6] He continued to use this rhythm of syllables in naming his most popular characters: Nelson Lee, Kenyon Ford, Vernon Read and Martin Dale.

Staniforth would continue writing for the next twenty years, his work published in papers by owned by the Amalgamated Press, Pearson's and Cassell.

[9] In all Scott would write just four stories for the paper that bore his most popular character's name: A Miscarriage of Justice (#7), The Convict's Dilemma (#8), In Borrowed Plumes (13) and When Rogues Fall Out (#48).

Memories from his cricketer and footballer days informed his serial Hard Pressed which ran in Big Budget #121–163 in 1899.

[11] Among these were the exploits of five popular detectives: Nelson Lee, Gordon Gray, Kenyon Ford, Vernon Read and Martin Dale.

Some of the most memorable titles include : Mystery of the York Express, The Missing Forward, The Rival Blues, Avenged on Xmas Day and The Poison King.

Gordon Gray 'The Greatest Living Detective' made his debut in The League of the Crimson Star in the Halfpenny Marvel No.

It was followed by Vendetta, The Whitby Abbey Mystery and The Stolen Despatches, a Pluck double Christmas issue where he teamed up with Nelson Lee.

The serial was followed by Red Hand in the Boys' Leader and Hidden Gold and Lorimer's Legacy in the Big Budget.

[13] In 1909 he paired Sexton Blake with Nelson Lee in The Winged Terror, a tale that ran in issues #329–336 of Boys' Herald.

Among the many stories he wrote Staniforth singled out three detective tales that gave him great enjoyment: The Silver Dwarf (Nelson Lee), The Iron Skull (Vernon Read) and The Seven Stars (Kenyon Ford).