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William Howard Russell was born in Tallaght in Ireland. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he joined The Times in 1843. The editor, John Thadeus Delane, sent Russell to cover the Crimean War. His reports revealled the sufferings of the British Army during the winter of 1854. These accounts upset Queen Victoria who described them as these "infamous attacks against the army which have disgraced our newspapers". Prince Albert, who took a keen interest in military matters, commented that "the pen and ink of one miserable scribbler is despoiling the country."

Russell's reports led to attacks on the government by the the Liberal M.P. John Roebuck. When Roebuck proposal for an inquiry into the condition of the British Army, the government was passed by 305 to 148, the Earl of Aberdeen, resigned.

Russell developed a reputation as Britain's finest military reporter with accounts of the Indian Mutiny (1858), the American Civil War (1861-65), The Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). As private secretary to Prince of Wales (later George V), he went to South Africa in 1879.

Russell's books included The Crimean War (1856), The Adventures of Dr. Brady (1968), Hesperothen (1882) and A Visit to Chile (1890). William Howard Russell died in 1907.

 

 

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