William Clark Russell (24 February 18448 November 1911) was an English writer best known for his

nautical novels Nautical fiction, frequently also naval fiction, sea fiction, naval adventure fiction or maritime fiction, is a genre of literature with a setting on or near the sea, that focuses on the human relationship to the sea and sea voyages and highligh ...

. At the age of 13 Russell joined the United Kingdom's Merchant Navy, serving for eight years. The hardships of life at sea damaged his health permanently, but provided him with material for a career as a writer. He wrote short stories, press articles, historical essays, biographies and a book of verse, but was known best for his novels, most of which were about life at sea. He maintained a simultaneous career as a journalist, principally as a columnist on nautical subjects for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

''. Russell campaigned for better conditions for merchant seamen, and his work influenced reforms approved by Parliament to prevent unscrupulous ship-owners from exploiting their crews. His influence in this respect was acknowledged by the future

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

. Among Russell's contemporary admirers were

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...

, Algernon Swinburne and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Life

Early years

William Clark Russell was born in New York in the Carlton House Hotel, Broadway, one of four sons of the English composer Henry Russell and his first wife, Isabella Lloyd (1811?–1887). It was from Isabella, "who was a relative of the poet William Wordsworth" and writer herself, that Russell inherited his love for literature and talent as a wordsmith. Additionally, he was the half-brother of the impresario Henry Russell and the conductor

Sir Landon Ronald Sir Landon Ronald (born Landon Ronald Russell) (7 June 1873 – 14 August 1938) was an English conductor, composer, pianist, teacher and administrator. In his early career he gained work as an accompanist and ''répétiteur'', but struggled ...

. A letter in the collection of Robert Lee Wolff provides a scalding condemnation of Russell's father, stemming from his father's abandonment of his family.

If you know who my father is, I shall feel obliged by your not saying so. Enough if I hint at the degradation of a second marriage, at the imposition of a ready-made family of active and talkative youth to explain why I wish that you will be absolutely silent on the subject of my paternal parentage

William Russell was never able to forgive his father for his second marriage and his abandonment of his initial family to raise a new one with his second wife. Russell continued this long held resentment against his father and his new family until his father's death in 1900. Not only did he avoid attending the funeral, but he also never acknowledged his half brothers. He was educated at private schools in Britain (

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

) and France (

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

). At the latter, together with a school friend, a son of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, he planned to quit school to travel in Africa. A letter from Dickens dissuaded the boys, but Russell continued to crave a life of adventure."Obituary – Mr. William Clark Russell", ''The Times'', 9 November 1911, p. 11 At the age of 13, Russell left school and joined the United Kingdom's Merchant Navy as an apprentice on the ''

Duncan Dunbar The ''Duncan Dunbar'' was a clipper constructed for Duncan Dunbar & Company in 1857. It was shipwrecked at the Rocas Atoll off the coast of Brazil on 7 October 1865 on the way to Sydney, Australia. Ship history The ship was launched on 18 May ...

''. In 1894 he recollected: Russell travelled to Asia and Australia. Off the coast of China during 1860 he witnessed the capture of the Taku Forts by combined British and French forces. Later, while he was serving on the ship '' Hougoumont'', the third mate went mad, and attacked him with a table-knife."William Clark Russell", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 9 November 1911, p. 5 Russell began to write of some of his experiences when he was confined to his quarters for a breach of discipline. At the age of 21, in 1866, Russell quit the Merchant Service. As the privations of his eight years as a sailor had gravely damaged his health, he was never completely healthy again for the rest of his life. The positive legacy from his service was a wealth of material on which he based a successful career as a novelist.

Family

At the age of 24, Russell married Anna Maria Alexandrina Clark Russell ''née'' Henry (January 1845September 11, 1926), whom he referred to as Alexandrina. The two married on June 27, 1868 in St. Stephen, Paddington, Westminster, England. In just one year, William and Alexandrina welcomed their first son, Herbert Henry William (March 28, 1869March 23, 1944), on March 28, 1869.Ashbury, Gordon. "Sir Herbert Henry William Russell KBE (1869–1944) » Genealogy Ashbury, Marsden » Genealogie Online". ''Genealogie Online'', 2019, www.genealogieonline.nl/en/genealogy-ashbury-marsden/I1928.php#bronnen. Accessed 20 Feb 2019. In total the couple had six children, two sons and 4 daughters, during their years together. In April 1870, Eveleen Katherina (April 1870January 1879) was born, but her life was cut short in January 1879 at the young age of 9. Following the loss of their first born daughter, the couple had Geraldine Mary Clark (April 1872Mary 15, 1949) in April 1872. Then came Charles Edward (June 9, 1875October 19, 1906), born June 9, 1875; Marguerite Isabelle Ellaby (April 1877May 1, 1961) born April 1877; and finally Annie Marcella (October 1880May 19, 1966), born October 1880. William Russell's first-born, Herbert, followed closely in his father's footsteps. Having caught his father's love for the sea and literature, Herbert followed a similar path to William's, also becoming a journalist for the very same newspapers, ''The Newcastle Daily Chronicle'' and ''

.''Nash, Andrew. ''William Clark Russell And The Victorian Nautical Novel: Gender, Genre, And The Marketplace''. 1st ed., Routledge, 2016, p. 24. Subsequently, Herbert wrote his own nautical novels and accompanied the Prince of Wales on his tour of India and Japan (1921–1922). The Magazine, ''

The War Illustrated ''The War Illustrated'' was a British war magazine published in London by William Berry (later Viscount Camrose and owner of ''The Daily Telegraph''). It was first released on 22 August 1914, eighteen days after the United Kingdom declared war o ...

'', mentions both William Clarke Russell and Herbert Henry William Russell in their publication on June 7, 1917.

Lastly, but not least, for he is the biggest man of all the correspondents at G.H.Q., France, comes Mr. Herbert Russell, the representative of Reuter's and the Press Association. Big, bluff, and hearty, he is known among his colleagues as "The Genial Russell." He has the sailor rather than the soldier manner, which is fitting, perhaps, for he is the son of Clark Russell, the sailor and famous writer of sailor stories. It is to the sea and sailors and especially to the Navy that Russell has devoted his enthusiasm as a journalist. But his dispatches of late, with their quick, common-sense surveys of what is happening at the war, have shown that he is as "handy" a correspondent on land as on sea ? and they say that Russell can give you from memory the size, armament, and equipment of any ship in the British Navy with details of its personnel, which, as the Yankees would say it 'going some'.

Career

Journalism

Russell had an office job with a commercial company for a few months, after which he decided to attempt a literary career. His first attempt was a five-act tragedy, ''Fra Angelico'', which was staged unsuccessfully in London during 1866. At the same time, he began work as a journalist in order to provide a stable income for himself and his family. In 1868, he began his journalism career and was the editor for ''The Leader'' for a brief period of time until 1871 when he joined the ''Kent County News''. and during the next two decades wrote for a variety of newspapers including ''The Newcastle Daily Chronicle'', ''The Kent County News'', and most importantly for him, ''

'', for which he wrote articles for about seven years using the pseudonym "Seafarer". At his time with the ''Daily Telegraph'' he planted the seeds of what would be his legacy, his masterful prose of the sea. Among his works with the ''Daily Telegraph'' are the ''Indian Chief'' (5 January 1881), and many of his articles were reprinted in volumes to create ''My Watch Below'' (1882) and ''Round the Galley Fire'' (1883).

Writer

There is much confusion around Russell's career, possibly a result of his writings being published anonymously or under various pseudonyms, so much so that even his immediate family were unaware of the full extent of his writings. From the early 1870s, Russell published novels using various pseudonyms (Sydney Mostyn, Eliza Rhyl Davies, and Philip Sheldon) with modest success.Nash, Andrew. ''William Clark Russell And The Victorian Nautical Novel: Gender, Genre, And The Marketplace''. 1st ed., Routledge, 2016, p. 2. The adoption of the more feminine pseudonyms, according to Andrew Nash, "arose from his perception of the novel as a feminized form and novel-reading as predominantly a female activity." Adopting many feminine pseudonyms in his early works was a result of the Victorian era belief that certain genres were destined only for certain genders. His early attempts at novels set on land only proved to be a failure, obscured by the nautical novels that had established him as a master of the niche during his time. In conjunction, his poetic and artistic prose and description of the sea facilitated his literary success. The stories of an old seaman at Ramsgate gave him the idea of writing about life at sea, drawing on his own experience. An obituarist of Russell wrote that since the heyday of such writers as

Captain Marryat Captain Frederick Marryat (10 July 1792 – 9 August 1848) was a Royal Navy officer, a novelist, and an acquaintance of Charles Dickens. He is noted today as an early pioneer of nautical fiction, particularly for his semi-autobiographical novel ...

, Michael Scott and Frederick Chamier some thirty or forty years before, "no one in this country had written of the sea from actual knowledge". As Richard D. Graham notes in ''Masters of Victorian Literature, 1837-1897,'' "Of living authors, William Clark Russell (1844) is the true successor of Marryat, and may even be said to excel the older writer in the power with which he has described the cruel mystery of the sea, its dangers, and the crimes and superstitions of the men who do business upon it". Russell was at first doubtful if stories of merchant navy life could compete with tales of the Royal Navy: "Only two writers had dealt with the mercantile side of the ocean life – Dana, the author of '' Two Years before the Mast'' and

, both of them, it is needless to say, Americans. I could not recollect ucha book written by an Englishman." His first attempt at a novel of merchant navy life wa
John Holdsworth, Chief Mate
during 1875, which Russell later thought of as "reluctant and timid in dealing with sea topics".Russell, p. 29 It received kindly reviews, but Russell regarded his next attempt, '' The Wreck of the Grosvenor'' (1877), as his first real sea book. Russell sold the copyright of ''The Wreck of the Grosvenor'' to the publisher

Sampson Low Sampson Low (18 November 1797 – 16 April 1886) was a bookseller and publisher in London in the 19th century. Early years Born in London in 1797, he was the son of Sampson Low, printer and publisher, of Berwick Street, Soho. He served a short ...

for £50 (about £21,000 in 2011 terms). During the next four years it sold nearly 35,000 copies.Russell, p. 39 Excellent reviews and good sales helped establish Russell's writing pattern. The scholar John Sutherland wrote during 1989 that ''The Wreck of the Grosvenor'' was "the most popular mid-Victorian melodrama of adventure and heroism at sea."Sutherland, p. 681 It remained popular and widely read in illustrated editions well into the first half of the 20th century. It was Russell's best-selling and best-known novel, though at the time of its first appearance in 1877, it published anonymously. Russell noted in a preface, the novel "found its first and best welcome in the United States," and commented elsewhere that his work was greeted with more enthusiasm in the United States than in Britain. The biographer G S Woods lists among Russell's best sea novels ''The Frozen Pirate'' (1877), ''A Sailor's Sweetheart'' (1880), ''An Ocean Tragedy'' (1881), ''The Death Ship'' (1888), ''List, ye Landsmen'' (1894) and ''Overdue'' (1903). According to Woods, Russell wrote a total of 57 novels. Additionally, he published collections of short stories and newspaper articles; a volume of historical essays; popular biographies (

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...

and Admirals Nelson and Collingwood); and a collection of verses. Among authors, Russell is widely admired and revered. Algernon Swinburne described Russell as "the greatest master of the sea, living or dead." Herman Melville admired Russell's work, and dedicated his book ''John Marr and Other Sailors'' (1888) to him. Russell reciprocated, dedicating ''An Ocean Tragedy'' to Melville during 1890. Despite their mutual regard, neither writer influenced the other's style, and it is Melville's works that have proved the more enduring.

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

made Dr. John Watson an admirer in

The Five Orange Pips "The Five Orange Pips", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the fifth of the twelve stories in ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes''. The story was first published in ''The Strand Magazine'' in Nov ...

in which he was "deep in one of Clark Russell's fine

sea stories Nautical fiction, frequently also naval fiction, sea fiction, naval adventure fiction or maritime fiction, is a genre of literature with a setting on or near the sea, that focuses on the human relationship to the sea and sea voyages and highligh ...

" while temporarily back in 221B Baker Street. Particularly during later years, when arthritis made it difficult for him to hold a pen, Russell dictated his work to a secretary. According to ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', "like most dictated work, these books have a rather inflated, rhetorical, literary manner." Despite this criticism, the paper concluded: According to Woods, "His descriptions of storms at sea and atmospheric effects were brilliant pieces of word painting, but his characterization was often indifferent, and his plots were apt to become monotonous." Among the praise Russell received from his colleagues, he is also far revered by his contemporaries such as

Sir Edwin Arnold Sir Edwin Arnold KCIE CSI (10 June 183224 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work ''The Light of Asia''.

Campaigner

Woods writes that Russell's sea novels "stimulated public interest in the conditions under which sailors lived, and thereby paved the way for the reform of many abuses." The year after Russell's death, Woods wrote: Later, Russell turned his attention to the deplorable provisions that unscrupulous ship-owners provided for merchant seamen on their vessels: "Nothing more atrociously nasty could be found amongst the neglected putrid sweepings of a butcher's back premises". But, his efforts did not stop there. Russell extended his sympathy even to the captive natives of the time of British colonization of Tasmania. He described in great detail the merciless treatment the British forces used against native captives. One such description so horrifically described was the story of Lalla Rookh of Tasmania, a Tasmanian girl who had watched her mother get butchered by the British settlers, her sisters raped and captured, and the men of her family shot dead in front of her. The horrors for Lalla only continued as she was taken on a convict ship sailing to Australia, all of which Russell was a witness. ''The Owl,'' a Birmingham newspaper, wrote the following:

The poor wretches were treated like beasts and flogged unmercifully, and their fearful experiences on an outward bound convict ship, so vividly painted by William Clark Russell, were but foretastes of the horrors awaiting them in the penal colonies of Australia.

Though this did little to halt the brutish treatment by the British colonizers, Russell's empathy towards those captive people helped to record and reveal the atrocity committed by the British people.

Later years

During his last two decades Russell became progressively more disabled by

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

, generally regarded as a legacy of his years at sea as a youth – "the sailor's enemy", as ''The Manchester Guardian'' stated. He did not allow this to stop him writing; ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' commented, "He worked harder than many haler men." He went to health resorts including

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, Droitwich and

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, and after living in

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

and

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...

on the south coast of England, he settled in Bath. He was bed-ridden for the last six months of his life. Russell died at his home in Bath at the age of 67, and his remains are buried in Smallcombe Cemetery in Bath.

Works

*''Fra Angelo – A tragedy in five acts'' (1865) *''The Hunchback's Charge'' (1867) *''The Book of Authors – A Collection of Criticisms, Ana, Môts, Personal Descriptions, etc'' (1871) *''Memoirs of Mrs. Lætitia Boothby'' (1872) *''Perplexity'' (as "Sydney Mostyn", 1872) *''Representative Actors – A Collection of Criticisms, Anecdotes, Personal Descriptions, etc'' (1872) *''The Surgeon's Secret'' (as "Sydney Mostyn", 1872) *''Kitty's Rival'' (as "Sydney Mostyn", 1873) *''Which Sister?'' (as "Sydney Mostyn", 1873) *''As Innocent as a Baby'' (1874) *''The Book of Table-talk – Selections from the Conversations of Poets, Philosophers, Statesmen, Divines, &c'' (1874) *''The Deceased Wife's Sister and My Beautiful Neighbour –Two Tales.'' (published anonymously, 1874) *''The Mystery of Ashleigh Manor – A Romance'' (as "Eliza Rhyl Davies", 1874) *''Jilted" – Or My Uncle's Scheme (published anonymously, 1875) *''A Dark Secret'' (as "Eliza Rhyl Davies", 1875) *''John Holdsworth, Chief Mate'' (1875) *''Captain Fanny'' (1876) *'' The Wreck of the Grosvenor'' (1877) *''The Little Loo'' (as "Sydney Mostyn", 1878) *''Auld Lang Syne'' (1878) *''A Sailor's Sweetheart'' (1880) *''An Ocean Free-Lance'' (1881) *''My Watch Below – or Yarns Spun When Off Duty'' (as "Seafarer" 1881) *''Round the Galley Fire'' (1883) *''Jack's Courtship'' (1884) *''On the Fo'k'sle Head'' (1884) *''English Channel Ports'' (1884) *''The Sea Queen'' (1884) *''Our Pilots'' (as "Seafarer", 1885) *''A Strange Voyage'' (1885) *''In the Middle Watch'' (1885) *''A Voyage to the Cape'' (1886) *''A Book for the Hammock'' (1887) *''The Frozen Pirate'' (1887) *''The Golden Hope'' (1887) *''The Death Ship, or The Flying Dutchman'' (1888) *''The Mystery of the Ocean Star'' (1888) *''An Ocean Tragedy'' (1889) *''Betwixt the Forelands'' (1889; historical essays) *''The Romance of Jenny Harlowe'' (1889) *''William Dampier'' (1889) *''Nelson's Words and Deeds'' (with W H Jacques, 1890) *''A Voyage at Anchor'' (1890) *''My Shipmate Louise'' (1890) *''The Life of Admiral Lord Collingwood'' (1891) *''Horatio Nelson and the Naval Supremacy of England''(1891) *''Marooned'' (1891) *''My Danish Sweetheart'' (1891) *''A Marriage at Sea'' (1891) *''Master Rockafellar's Voyage'' (1891) *''Mrs. Dines's Jewels – A Mid-Atlantic Romance'' (1892) *''A Strange Elopement'' (1892) *''List, Ye Landsmen!'' (1893) *''The Emigrant Ship'' (1893) *''The Tragedy of Ida Noble'' (1893) *''A Three-Stranded Yarn'' (1894) *''The Good Ship Mohock'' (1894) *''Heart of Oak'' (1895) *''The Convict Ship'' (1895) *''The Phantom Death'' (1895; collected horror stories) *''The Honour of the Flag, and Other Stories'' (1896; short stories) *''The Copsford Mystery'' (1896) *''The Tale of The Ten'' (1896) *''The Lady Maud'' (1896) *''What Cheer!'' (1896) *''A Noble Haul'' (1897) *''Pictures from the Life of Nelson'' (1897) *''The Two Captains'' (1897) *''The Last Entry'' (1897) *''A Tale of Two Tunnels'' (1897) *''Romance of A Midshipman'' (1898) *''A Voyage At Anchor'' (1899) *''An Atlantic Tragedy, and Other Stories'' (1899) *''The Ship – Her Story'' (1899) *''Rose Island – The Strange Story of Love Adventure at Sea'' (1899) *''His Island Princess'' (1900) *''The Cruise of The Pretty Polly'' (1900) *''The Ship's Adventure'' (1901) *''Overdue'' (1903) *''The Captain's Wife'' (1903) *''Abandoned'' (1904) *''Wrong Side Out'' (1904) *''The Life of Nelson in a Series of Episodes'' (1905) *''The Yarn of Old Harbour Town'' (1905) *''The Mystery of the "Ocean Star" and Other Maritime Sketches'' (1905) *''An Atlantic Tragedy, and Other Stories'' (1905) *''The Turnpike Sailor – Or Rhymes on the Road'' (1907) *''The Father of the Sea, and Other Legends of the Deep'' (1911; new edition of ''The Turnpike Sailor'')

Notes

References

Sources

* Ancestry.com. ''1901 England Census'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. *Ancestry.com. ''London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. *Ancestry.com. ''UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. *Ashbury, Gordon. "Sir Herbert Henry William Russell KBE (1869–1944) » Genealogy Ashbury, Marsden » Genealogie Online". ''Genealogie Online'', 2019, www.genealogieonline.nl/en/genealogy-ashbury-marsden/I1928.php#bronnen. Accessed 20 Feb 2019. *"Expanding the Empire: How Tasmania Was Colonised." ''The Owl'', 31 Mar. 1899, p. 12. * *Graham, Richard D. ''The Masters Of Victorian Literature, 1837–1897''. 1st ed., Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1897, p. 166. * *Nash, Andrew. ''William Clark Russell And The Victorian Nautical Novel: Gender, Genre, And The Marketplace''. 1st ed., Routledge, 2016, p. 24. *Nash, Andrew. "William Clark Russell and 'Chambers's Journal': Elopement and the Victorian Nautical Novel." ''Victorian Periodicals Review'', vol. 43, no. 1, 2010, pp. 42–56. ''JSTOR'', www.jstor.org/stable/25732086. * * *

External links

The W. Clark Russell home
biography, bibliography * *
Works by or about William Clark Russell
at

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, William Clark 19th-century British novelists 20th-century British novelists 1844 births 1911 deaths British male novelists 19th-century British male writers 20th-century British male writers