William howard russell biography

Seema Syeda on battlefield scoops throughout the ages.

William Howard Russell was one of the most prolific and revolutionary journalists of his time.

Best known for his reporting on the Crimean War, he narrated the events of the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’, and Tennyson wrote his celebrated poem of the same name – now etched into the British national consciousness – using Russell’s dispatches as a guide.

But Russell’s influence was not limited to the creation of national mythology: his commentary on the shambolic state of health provision in the army resulted in a transformation of wartime medical treatment, and his criticism of the failures of the British political and military administration helped topple the government of George Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen.

Widely regarded as the first modern war correspondent, Russell was a globetrotter with a wide purview, reporting on the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the American Civil War, the