Published by Amalgamated Press (AP), The Schoolgirl ran in two series, the first from 1922 to 1923, and the second (essentially continuing a sister publication) from 1929 to 1940.
Most stories in The Schoolgirl centred on the girls and staff of Cliff House School, a fictional establishment in Kent, on a clifftop overlooking the sea.
, complemented by the precise and elegant drawings by T. E. Laidler on the covers and interiors, and arguably creating the Golden Age of Cliff House.
In the main he kept the roster of characters initially assembled by [Charles] Hamilton and continued by Kirkham, Phillips, L. E. Ransome, and others but slightly altered their personalities, their relationships, and attributes — for instance, Bessie Bunter had been fat but was now more usually plump, had been grotesquely drawn by G. Dodshon but was now an elegantly delineated duffer by Laidler.
Barbara Redfern was a bit of a prig in the '20's but under Wheway's hand became more like a female Harry Wharton, i.e. with all faults and thus more interesting, while her best friend Mabs Lynn solidified into the role of Frank Nugent.
Jemima Carstairs continued to act like Mauly [Lord Mauleverer] whilst Augusta Anstruther-Browne tended to be a feminine Bounder [Herbert Tudor Vernon-Smith].