Russell

WILLIAM CLARK RUSSELL (1844 - 1911)

Russell was born in New York, the son of English vocalist Henry Russell, the author of 'Cheer, Boys, Cheer', 'A Life on the Ocean Wave' and other popular songs. William later served for eight years as a merchant seaman, a period which gave rise to a whole series of immensely popular boy's adventure stories. He was also instrumental in improving conditions and food aboard merchantmen. Swinburne (q.v.), a connoisseur in such matters, considered Russell to be the greatest-ever describer of the sea. Doctor Watson, at the beginning of the Sherlock Holmes story 'The Five Orange Pips' is shown 'deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea stories'. In about 1881, Russell worked for some time on the Newcastle Daily Chronicle under the redoubtable Joseph Cowen. Later he became a leader-writer on the Daily Telegraph, but resigned in 1887. Russell's later newspaper columns are collected in several volumes, including Round the Galley Fire. He also wrote a life of Admiral Collingwood in 1891.

Russell's novel A Sea Queen (1884) is set largely on Tyneside, and contains tremendous descriptions of the sea at Tynemouth and the Black Middens. The title of the book refers to a woman resident in South Shields of whom Russell declares: 'This Newcastle lady is the first sailor's wife whose nautical experiences have been put in a book'. Chapter I is entitled 'I am born at Newcastle on Tyne', and includes an engaging description of the Side and the coal locomotives crossing the viaduct. Russell remarks on the growth and progress of the 'noble and renowned old borough which makes all Tyneside lads and lasses love Newcastle... it's 'canny Newcastle' to us all.' He makes a few valiant efforts at conveying the local speech, but gives his heroine a southern English accent (her mother is from Sussex). She remarks in this context:

'I scarcely know a patois more contagious than the Northumbrian... In the mouths of the lower orders, Newcastle English is, I freely admit, a very rugged and grotesque tongue, as unintelligible to the stranger as Dutch... but on the other hand, there is nothing sweeter than the pronunciation of an educated Tynesider. There is something fascinating to listen to in the silken rippling of a Newcastle lady's speech, and the burr and the unconscious sprinkling of expressive local words will make the veriest commonplaces attractive in a cultivated male speaker.'

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
WILLIAM CLARK RUSSELL (1844 - 1911) Russell was born in New York, the son of English vocalist Henry Russell, the author of 'Cheer, Boys, Cheer', 'A Life on the Ocean Wave' and other popular songs. William later served for eight years as a merchant seaman, a period which gave rise to a whole series of immensely popular boy's adventure stories. He was also instrumental in improving conditions and food aboard merchantmen. Swinburne (q.v.), a connoisseur in such matters, considered Russell to be the greatest-ever describer of the sea. Doctor Watson, at the beginning of the Sherlock Holmes story 'The Five Orange Pips' is shown 'deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea stories'. In about 1881, Russell worked for some time on the Newcastle Daily Chronicle under the redoubtable Joseph Cowen. Later he became a leader-writer on the Daily Telegraph, but resigned in 1887. Russell's later newspaper columns are collected in several volumes, including Round the Galley Fire. He also wrote a life of Admiral Collingwood in 1891. Russell's novel A Sea Queen (1884) is set largely on Tyneside, and contains tremendous descriptions of the sea at Tynemouth and the Black Middens. The title of the book refers to a woman resident in South Shields of whom Russell declares: 'This Newcastle lady is the first sailor's wife whose nautical experiences have been put in a book'. Chapter I is entitled 'I am born at Newcastle on Tyne', and includes an engaging description of the Side and the coal locomotives crossing the viaduct. Russell remarks on the growth and progress of the 'noble and renowned old borough which makes all Tyneside lads and lasses love Newcastle... it's 'canny Newcastle' to us all.' He makes a few valiant efforts at conveying the local speech, but gives his heroine a southern English accent (her mother is from Sussex). She remarks in this context: 'I scarcely know a patois more contagious than the Northumbrian... In the mouths of the lower orders, Newcastle English is, I freely admit, a very rugged and grotesque tongue, as unintelligible to the stranger as Dutch... but on the other hand, there is nothing sweeter than the pronunciation of an educated Tynesider. There is something fascinating to listen to in the silken rippling of a Newcastle lady's speech, and the burr and the unconscious sprinkling of expressive local words will make the veriest commonplaces attractive in a cultivated male speaker.'
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