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SIR WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 866 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL  . (1821-1907),
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English war correspondent, was born at Lilyvale, near Tallaght, in the county of
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Dublin, on the 28th of March 1821, being one of the $ussells of
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Limerick, whose settlement in Ireland
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dates from the time of Richard II . He entered Trinity College in 1838 . Three years later he was thrown very much on his own resources, but a relative, Mr R . W . Russell, who had been sent to Ireland by The Times, deputed him to report the Irish elections at
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Longford, and his success definitely turned his attention to journalism . Coming to
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London in 1842, he went to Cambridge, but
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left before taking a degree . In the following
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year he was sent by The Times to Ireland to report the O'Connell meetings . In 1845 he was appointed to superintend the reports on the Irish
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railways, and was shortly afterwards sent by The Times to inspect the O'Connell
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property in S.W . Ireland, when his plain speaking drew forth a characteristic tirade from. the " Liberator." For a short period in 1847 his services were temporarily transferred to the
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Morning Chronicle, but with that exception he remained permanently connected with The Times . He was sent as
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special correspondent to Denmark in the war of 1849-50 . He did not, however, at once relinquish a legal career, and was called to the bar at the
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Middle Temple in 1851 .

On the outbreak of the

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Crimean War in 1853 he went out as special correspondent, and, accompanying the
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light division to Gallipoli, proceeded with the first detachment to
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Varna . On the embarkation for the Crimea he was attached to the second division, and landed with it on the 14th of September . He was
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present at the
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battle of the
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Alma on the loth of September, at the investment of Sevastopol, at Balaclava on the 25th of
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October and Inkerman on the '5th of November . Towards the end of May 1855 he accompanied the expedition to Kertch, and did not return to the Crimea until the following August . In September and October he described the attacks on the Malakoff and
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Redan, the occupation of Sevastopol and the capture of Fort Kinburn . The popularity of The Times Crimea correspondence led to its republication in two volumes under the title of The War, 1855-56 . Russell's letters to The Times were mainly responsible for the enlightenment of the public at home as to the conduct of affairs at the scene of
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action, and his exposure of the mismanagement during the winter of 1854 did more than anything else to cause the downfall of Lord Aberdeen's
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ministry . In 1856 Russell was sent to Moscow to describe the coronation of the
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tsar, and in the following year was attached to the headquarters of Lord Clyde in India . He was present at the siege and capture of
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Lucknow in 1858, the operations in Oude, the battle of Bareilly and the actions in
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Rohilkhand, and he received the
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Indian war medal with the Lucknow clasp . The events of those stirring times are vividly recorded in My
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Diary in India in 1858-59 . Next year he was sent to Italy, but arrived on the
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eve of the armistice at
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Villa-franca . On the 7th of
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January 186o appeared the first number of the Army and
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Navy
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Gazette, which he founded, and of which he was editor and
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principal proprietor .

In 1861 Russell proceeded to

Washington, and reached M'Dowell's headquarters just before the first battle of Bull Run, and his account of the Federal retreat drew much hostile criticism . He published a full account of the war, in so far as he had witnessed it, in My Diary, North and South, during the
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Civil War in
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America, 1862 . Returning to England in 1863, he remained at home until '866, when he proceeded to the headquarters of General Benedek and witnessed the battle of Koniggratz, 3rd of
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July, TT During the
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interval of peace that followed he accompanied the prince of Wales to the Nile, Constantinople, the Crimea and
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Greece in 1868, and published an account of the tour in the following year, when he also contested the borough of
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Chelsea unsuccessfully in the Conservative
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interest . On the out-break of the Franco-Prussian War in 187o, Russell was with the
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crown prince from the battle of Worth, 6th of August, and
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Sedan, 12th of September, till the capitulation of Paris . His account appeared in 1874 under the title of My Diary during the Last
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Great War . His description of the burning of Paris by the Communards was not the least of his journalistic triumphs . In 1895–76 he was honorary private secretary to the prince of Wales during his tour through India, of which he published an account in 1897 . When Lord Wolseley was sent to quell the Zulu
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rebellion in 1879, Russell was attached to his staff as correspondent . In 1881 he went with the duke of Sutherland's party for a tour in the
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United States and
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Canada, described in Hesperothen, and in 1882 he was again with Lord Wolseley in the
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Egyptian
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campaign . In 1895 he published a
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personal retrospect entitled The Great War with Russia . Russell was knighted in May 1895, and was the recipient of numerous war medals and various
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foreign orders . He married twice, first in 1846
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Miss Burrowes, who died not long afterwards, and secondly in 1884 the Countess A .

Malvezzi . He died on the 11th of

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February 1907 .

End of Article: SIR WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL
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