sir w h russell correspondent times crimea 1854 William Howard Russell (28 March 1820 - 11 February 1907) was an Irish reporter
William Howard Russell (28 March 1820 - 11 February 1907) was an Irish reporter with The Times, and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents, after he spent 22 months covering the Crimean War including the Charge of the Light Brigade. As a young reporter, Russell reported on a brief military conflict between Prussian and Danish troops in Denmark in 1850. Initially sent by editor John Delane to Malta to cover English support for Russia in 1854, Russell despised the term "war correspondent" - though his coverage of the conflict brought him international renown, and Florence Nightingale later credited her entry into wartime nursing to his reports (and although she was not as famous, the international renown of Mary Seacole was mainly down to Russell). He was described by one of the soldiers on the frontlines thus, "a vulgar low Irishman, [who] sings a good song, drinks anyone's brandy and water and smokes as many cigas as a Jolly Good Fellow. He is just the sort of chap to get information, particularly out of youngsters."[1] This reputation however, led to Russell being blacklisted from some circles, including British commander Lord Raglan who advised his officers to refuse to speak with the reporter. His dispatches were hugely significant: for the first time the public could read about the reality of warfare. Shocked and outraged, the public's backlash from his reports led the Government to re-evaluate the treatment of troops and led to Florence Nightingale's involvement in revolutionising battlefield treatment. On September 20, 1854, Russell covered the battle above the Alma River - writing his missive the following day in an account book seized from a Russian corpse. The story, written in the form of a letter to Delane, was supportive of the British troops though paid particular attention to the battlefield surgeons' "humane barbarity", and the lack of ambulance care for wounded troops.
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