Association Reports (seventh meeting). The existence of the long wave, or wave of translation, with many of its most important features, was here first recognized, and it was clearly pointed out why there is a special rate, depending on the depth of the water, at which a canal-boat can be towed at the least expenditure of effort by the horse. The elementary mathematical theory of the long wave was soon supplied by commentators on Scott Russell's work, and a more complete investigation was subsequently given by Sir G. G. Stokes. Russell indulged in many extraordinary and groundless speculations, some of which were published in a posthumous volume, The Wave of Translation (1885). His observations led him to propose and experiment on a new system of shaping vessels, known as the wave system, which culminated in the building of the “Great Eastern.” His activity and ingenuity were also displayed in many other fields, -steam-coaches for roads, improvements in boilers and inf marine engines, the immense iron dome of the Vienna Exhibition, cellular double bottoms for iron ships, &c. With Mr Stafford Northcote (afterwards Lord Iddesleigh), he was joint-secretary of the Great Exhibition of 1851; and he was one of the chief founders of the Institution of Naval Architects. He died at Ventnor on the 8th of June 1882.
RUSSELL, THOMAS (1762–1788), English poet, was born
at Beaminster, early in 1762. He was the son of John Russell,
an attorney at Bridport, in Dorsetshire, and his mother was
Miss Virtue Brickle, of Shaftesbury. He was educated at the
grammar school of Bridport, and in 1777 proceeded to Winchester,
where he stayed three years, under Dr Joseph Warton,
and Thomas Warton, the professor of poetry. In 1780 Russell
became a member of New College, Oxford. He graduated
B.A. in 1784 and was ordained priest in 1786. During his
residence at the university he devoted himself to French,
Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Provencal and even German
literature. His health, however, broke down, and he retired
to Bristol hot wells to drink the waters; but in vain, for he
died there on the 31st of July 1788. He was buried in Powerstock
churchyard, Dorset. In 1789 was published a thin
volume, containing his Sonnets and Miscellaneous Poems, now a
very rare book. It contained twenty-three sonnets, of regular
form, and a few paraphrases and original lyrics. The sonnets
are the best, and it is by right of these that Russell takes his
place as one of the most interesting precursors of the romantic
school. “ War, Love, the Wizard, and the Fay he sung ”in
other words, he rejected entirely the narrow circle of subjects
laid down for 18th-century poets. In this he was certainly
influenced both by Chatterton and by Collins. But he was
still more clearly the disciple of Petrarch, of Boccaccio and
of Camoens, each of whom he had carefully and enthusiastically
studied. His Sonnet, “Suppos'd to be written at Lemnos,”
is his masterpiece, and is unquestionably the greatest English
sonnet of the 18th century
The anonymous editor of Russell's solitary volume is said to, have been William Howley (1766–1848), long afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, who was a youthful bachelor of New College when Russell, who had been his tutor, died. His memoir of the poet is very perfunctory, and the fullest account of Russell is that published in 1897 by T. Seccombe.
RUSSELL, WILLIAM CLARK (1844–), British author, was born at the Carlton House Hotel, New York, on the 24th of February 1844, the son of Henry Russell, author of “ Cheer, Boys, Cheer, ” and other popular songs. He went to school at Winchester, and then at Boulogne, joining the merchant service at thirteen, and serving for eight years. This apprenticeship to a seafaring life was turned to account in a series of stories which have fascinated two generations of boy readers. John Holdsworth, Chief Mate (1874), immediately made his reputation. Other successful stories were: The Wreck of the Grosvenor (1875), in which he pleaded for better food for English seamen; The Frozen Pirate (1877), An Ocean Tragedy (1881), The Emigrant Ship (1894), The Ship, Her Story (1894), The Convict Ship (1895), What Cheer! (1895), The Two Captains (1897), The Romance of a Midshipman (1898), The Ship's Adventure (1899), Overdue (1903), Abandoned (1904), His Island Princess (1905). He joined the staff of the Newcastle Daily Chronicle, and afterwards became a leader writer on the Daily Telegraph, but the double labour of journalism and novel writing threatened his health, and he resigned in 1887. Many of the papers which he contributed to the Daily Telegraph were collected in volume form in Round the Galley Fire and other volumes. He also wrote a Life of Lord Collingwood (1891), and, with W. H. Jacques, Nelson and the Naval Supremacy of England (New York, 1890).
RUSSELL, SIR WILLIAM HOWARD. (1821–1907), English
war correspondent, was born at Lilyvale, near Tallaght, in the county of Dublin, on the 28th of March 1821, being one of the Russells of Limerick, whose settlement in Ireland 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 Longford, and his success definitely turned his attention to journalism. Coming to London in 1842, he went to Cambridge, but left before taking a degree. In the following 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 railways, and was shortly afterwards sent by The
Times to inspect the O'Connell 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 Morning Chronicle, but with
that exception he remained permanently connected with The
Times. He was sent asrspecial 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 Middle Temple
in 1851. On the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853 he went
out as special correspondent, and, accompanying the light
division to Gallipoli, proceeded with the first detachment to
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 present at the battle of the Alma on the
2oth of September, at the investment of Sevastopol, at Balaclava on the 25th of 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 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 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 ministry. In 1856 Russell was sent to Moscow to describe the coronation of the 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 Lucknow in 1858, the operations in Oude, the battle of Bareilly and the actions in Rohilkhand, and he received the Indian war medal with the Lucknow clasp. The events of those stirring times are vividly recorded in My Diary in India in 1858-59. Next year he was sent to Italy, but arrived on the eve of the armistice at Villafranca. On the 7th of January 1860 appeared the first number of the Army and Navy Gazette, which he founded, and of which he was editor and 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 Civil War in Arnerica, 1862. Returning to England in 1863, he remained at home until 1866, when he proceeded to the headquarters of General Benedek and witnessed the battle of Koniggratz, 3rd of Julv.
