Stephen Mogridge aka Jill Stevens

British author, mainly of mystery and adventure type novels. His most popular books were probably the New Forest series, in which some of the characters had their own ponies. I don't think that ponies featured in any of his other adventures novels but if anyone knows to the contrary please let me know! Unfortunately for collectors of this series, some of the titles have become very rare and expensive.

Stephen Mogridge also wrote under the pseudonym of Jill Stevens. These books tended to be aimed more at girls whereas the New Forest series and the other adventures written under his own name were aimed at both sexes. He wrote one pony/donkey story under the Jill Stevens name.

New Forest Series:
Adventure/mystery series. A group of children have many adventures in the New Forest, some with their ponies, others without. I have not read them all so I don't know the extent of pony content in them all. Unlike many pony series, this one seems to be aimed at both girls and boys, rather than just girls, and also children who are interested in mainstream mystery stories rather than specifically pony stories. The main characters are Patricia, a pony mad girl and her brother Bill, who prefers photography and detecting. Another pony girl Fiona, is balanced by her own brother Freddy, a boffin type interested in mechanical things. In this way both sexes and a wide range of different types of reader are catered to. The series is thus more similar to the Malcolm Saville Lone Pine series or the Monica Edwards Romney Marsh stories than a traditional pony series.

Some of the books in the series are rare and unfortunately can be expensive, making it a hard series to collect in its entirety.

Lots more on the series here

Thanks to Susan Bourgeau. for most of the pics of this series. Thanks also to
Attic Treasure Auctions for kindly allowing me to use their picture of New Forest Treasure. If anyone has a picture of New Forest Vagabonds I would be extremely grateful if I could use it.

1) NEW FOREST ADVENTURE
(NELSON 1953)
ILLUSTRATED BY WINSLADE
Reprinted in paperback in 1960 as part of the Nelson Juniors imprint.
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition, Nelson paperback.
SUMMARY: Patricia and Bill are spending their holidays in the New Forest. There Patricia adopts a foal and the children make new friends.

2) NEW FOREST MYSTERY
(NELSON 1954)
ILLUSTRATED BY WINSLADE
Reprinted in hardback by original publisher
EDITION PICTURED: 1st edition
SUMMARY: Adventure on boats as well as ponies for the friends in this second story n the series which involves a secret underground passage and a string of onions!

3) NEW FOREST QUEST
(NELSON 1955)
ILLUSTRATED BY WINSLADE
EDITION PICTURED: 1st edition
SUMMARY: The finding of an old book sets the friends off on an exciting new adventure.

4) NEW FOREST EXPLOITS
(NELSON 1956)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT HODGSON
EDITION PICTURED: 1st edition
Reprinted in hardback by original publisher
SUMMARY: Why is a mysterious dealer after Vicky's paintings?

5) NEW FOREST DISCOVERIES
(NELSON 1957)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT HODGSON
Reprinted in paperback in 1959 as part of the Nelson Juniors imprint.
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition, Nelson paperback.
SUMMARY: The friends make new acquaintances in this story. The Smith brothers and their vintage car are an interesting addition to their circle but Fiona is another matter. She sucks up to the grown ups but is unpleasant to the children and their ponies. However both the brothers and Elaine become part of a new mystery for the gang to solve.

6) NEW FOREST SMUGGLERS
(NELSON 1958)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT HODGSON
Reprinted in hardback by original publisher
EDITION PICTURED: 1st edition
SUMMARY: The gang meet new girl Kitty but think that her parents are behaving very  strangely. Could this be the start of a new adventure?

7) NEW FOREST PIRATES
(NELSON 1959)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT HODGSON
Reprinted in hardback by original publisher
SUMMARY: Two of the children, Bill and Patricia, receive terrible school reports. Patricia's particular bete noir is French and it is decided she will be sent to France to stay with a French family and learn the language better. But Patricia does not want to leave her pony Star behind, particularly as a group of villains are going around cutting the tails off the local ponies! A more suitable solution is found, and this is the start of more adventures for the gang and a new friend.

8) NEW FOREST VAGABOND
(NELSON 1960)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT HODGSON
Rare
EDITION PICTURED: 1st edition
SUMMARY: Who is the mysterious young girl Felicity who comes to stay? Does she have anything to do with the mystery of the forged money the children are investigating?

9) NEW FOREST DETECTIVES
(NELSON 1962)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT HODGSON
Quite rare
EDITION PICTURED: 1st edition
SUMMARY: Bill finds a chance to use his detecting skills when he spots a mysterious stranger.

10) NEW FOREST TREASURE
(NELSON 1963)
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT HODGSON
Rare.
EDITION PICTURED: 1st edition - picture used courtesy of Attic Treasure Auctions
SUMMARY: The children set out on a treasure hunt for hidden Roman gold, but their efforts are hampered when some invaluable equipment of Freddy's is stolen.

11) NEW FOREST SPIES
(NELSON 1964)
ILLUSTRATED BY DRAKE BROOKSHAW
Quite rare
SUMMARY: Who is the mysterious man photographing a house in the New Forest? The gang determine to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Collectors info:
Only two of these were reprinted as paperbacks (New Forest Adventure & New Forest Discoveries). Some of the others had hardback reprints, a few were not reprinted at all. In the UK, New Forest Exploits and New Forest Discoveries are easy to find. Most of the others, whilst not common, can be tracked down on the internet without too much bother. The last four titles however are much rarer, especially New Forest Vagabond and New Forest Treasure and these may be quite expensive to buy. Outside of the UK all are quite hard to find and may be over-priced.

As Jill Stevens:

JANE'S LONELY DONKEY
(NELSON 1958)
ILLUSTRATED BY DICK HART
Reprinted in hardback by Nelson.
SUMMARY: Paula and Jane were good friends, so two were Paula's pony Sunspot and Jane's donkey Percy. Percy did not want to be separated from his friend so when Paula exercised Sunspot he had to come too! Soon Paula is beginning to wonder if she can extricate herself from the donkey without hurting her friends feelings…

ICE ON THE LAWN
(NELSON 1960)
ILLUSTRATED BY GILBERT DUNLOP
SUMMARY: Part pony story, part ice skating story. Jill is distraught when her mother announces they must spend the winter with her aunt, uncle and cousin at their boarding house. She was practising for an important skating exam which she needs to pass in order to pursue her career as a skating instructress and she knows there are no rinks near her uncle's house in the middle of the countryside. The only plus point is that Jill loves ponies and her cousin has a pony of her own, as well as one of the paying guests, who allows Jill to look after her horse. As she becomes more involved with the life of the guest house and a mystery which infolds there, Jill realises that she must eventually choose between skating and horses…
PONYMAD VIEW: An enjoyable, if unchallenging story, with the skating element adding extra interest to the story. The mystery element is quite well done too.
PONYMAD RATING: 3 HORSESHOES

Collectors info:
Although not common, both titles are still reasonable easy to find on the internet and usually fairly low cost. Copies can be found in the USA and Australia but they tend to be a lot more scarce and pricey.