Well now, bevisvamp, all thanks due to you for the info. I've had colcool007 from comicsuk digging for intelligence on the strip. He had a suspicion that W.E. Johns might have been responsible, but you've scotched that. Thank you. Any idea of the artist, or whether there were other comics strip stories with the character?
Now that we know Rochester wrote Flying Beetle stories, a check in my copy of Lofts and Adley shows he started writing these stories for Boys Own Paper in 1927, and the success of these yarns started him on his extensive writing career.
Still doesn't help with the question of whether there were other comic versions. I'll keep looking.