Eustace Clare Grenville Murray

Eustace C. Grenville Murray (̈ * October 2, 1824 , † December 20, 1881 in Passy ) was an English diplomat, journalist and satirist. He published many of his writings, both books and magazine articles, under a pseudonym, such as The Roving Englishman , Silly Billy or (especially during his time in Paris) Trois-Etoiles .

About the name

His name, especially in recent English texts, often appears as Grenville-Murray (with a hyphen), at least wherever his full name is mentioned. Otherwise, however, he was (and is) often not listed as "Grenville-Murray", but only as "Mr. Murray" or the like. This is also done in the following. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) also lists him under "Murray", not under "Grenville-Murray" or "Grenville". Murray himself usually wrote his names without a hyphen.

life and work

Murray was born the illegitimate son of Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville (1797–1861), also known as the Marquess of Chandos , in Buckinghamshire ; Nothing is known about his actress Emma Murray. He was enrolled in Magdalen College , Oxford, in 1848 but, as far as is known, never graduated. However, two years later he was inducted into the Inner Temple , one of the four English bar associations.

Diplomat and travel journalist (1851–1857)

In July 1851 he was sent to Vienna as an embassy attaché after his father had pushed him into the diplomatic service and Lord Palmerston - British Foreign Minister since 1846 - had noticed him. At the same time, Murray had joined the Morning Post to report journalistically about his time in Austria. That was not the custom of the time, and when it became known in Vienna that his employment agreement with the newspaper became known, Murray was excluded from the day-to-day operations of the embassy by the ambassador there, Lord Westmorland; Palmerston's influence prevented worse. In fact, Palmerston himself is said to have known of Murray's activity as a correspondent, especially since the Morning Post was generally considered a newspaper that was pro-Palmerston oriented.

Vasile Alecsandri, the collector of Romanian folk songs

From April to October 1852 Murray worked in Hanover before he was transferred to Constantinople on October 19 . However, he did not arrive there until March 1853. His relationship with Sir Stratford de Redcliffe Canning was so strained from the beginning that he was deported to Mytilene (Lesbos) between October 1853 and July 1854 as the representative of the local vice-consul . Probably his first book publication, which arose during his diplomatic days in Turkey, was a translation of 33 short stories and ballads into English, published as Doǐne; or, The National Songs and Legends of Roumania ; doine is the plural of romanian. doină , "folk song" or "ballad". The book also contains a number of notes on the lyrics and six melodies set on notes. As Murray himself writes, with these translations he passed the time when he was "invalided" on one of the Princes' Islands near Constantinople in the summer of 1853 . Murray, who had not visited Romania before, corresponded with a princess from the Ghica family and had taken the texts for his translations from two books by Vasile Alecsandri , which had appeared in 1852 and 1853.

At his diplomatic post in Mytilene - on the island of Lesbos opposite the Turkish Aegean coast - he had the leisure to continue to write his satirical travelogues "of a Roving Englishman" (about ː "an English vagabond"). These texts appeared in book form, in three volumes, between 1854 and 1856, all published anonymously by an author named The Roving Englishman. Most of the chapters had previously appeared in the magazine Household Words edited by Charles Dickens (and in individual cases also in other magazines) between November 1851 and March 1856. Murray's travelogues deal with his experiences in Germany, France, Greece and - on most detailed - Turkey (including today's Bulgarian parts of "European Turkey" and the Greek islands, then also Turkish). They also cover the time of the Crimean War , but it is not actual war reporting, as the title of the third book - Pictures from the Battle Fields - might suggest.

Stratford Canning, ca.1860

In his satirical travelogues, Murray et al. a. Funny about the embassy staff in Constantinople, especially about Ambassador Stratford Canning, whom he called "Sir Hector Stubble", so "Sir Hector Stubble". When Murray was relieved of his position on Lesbos at the end of June 1854 and returned to the embassy in Constantinople, the situation escalated. Stratford was seething with anger at Murray, and in London it was an open secret that sooner or later the English ambassador would piss Murray on or fall into a fit of anger himself. Lord Palmerston, who continued to protect Murray, also interfered, and to defuse the situation, Murray was first assigned to the British delegation in Tehran . There he spent 1857 before he was transferred to the post of Consul General of Odessa , where he was then transferred in 1858.

Consul General in Odessa (1858–1868)

Murray stayed in Odessa for the next ten years and from there sent many consular reports to the British Foreign Office, which have also been used by modern historians; these reports refer to v. a. on economic and political processes and can serve as a source for the history of Odessa in the 19th century. However, from the start he argued with the British residents there, who over the years had filed many petitions against him at the Foreign Office. It appears that he was taking inadmissible taxes from the residents and putting them in his own pocket; Raymond A. Jones called Murray "the notorious and corrupt Consul General in Odessa, whose crimes were detailed in a blue book ". In 1868, Lord Derby , then Foreign Secretary, had enough and withdrew Murray from Odessa. Murray returned to England after a total of seventeen years abroad.

Ira Aldridge, portrayed by Taras Shevchenko in 1858

From Murray's life in Odessa it is worth mentioning that in January – February 1866 he became acquainted with the Afro-American actor Ira Frederick Aldridge , who was visiting Odessa on his trip to Constantinople. Murray saw him in Odessa in the role of Shylock in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and was enthusiastic; Murray wrote a thank you letter to Aldridge on February 2, in which he thanked him for his portrayal of "the semi-oriental Jew" and then raved about how "uncomfortable some passages of this role must be for the wealthy Jews of our time. who rule all the secrets and councils of this world ". Murray finally had the idea of ​​having Aldridge's skull measured for a phrenological examination and then reported the results to the American Phrenological Journal , which printed an analysis. Aldridge stayed in Odessa for about six weeks, but it is not known whether he came into contact with Murray again.

Intermezzo in England (1868–1869)

Lord Carrington (Vanity Fair, 1907)

The year after his return from Odessa, 1869, Murray founded a weekly newspaper in London called The Queen's Messenger , which mostly commented on social news in a usually satirical manner - the magazine was "polemical, personal, unfair and disrespectful". Murray polemicized on its side against the staff in the administration of the Foreign Office, which he accused of having caused his dismissal in Odessa; his anger was specifically directed against John Bidwell, Jr., an officer in the Foreign Office. But Murray also made many enemies with his style and his indiscretions, which he published, and was violently hostile. On June 22, 1869, he was beaten by Lord Carrington at the entrance to the Conservative Club in London with a riding whip because Murray allegedly insulted his father Robert Carrington in an article by indiscretions. Murray litigated Carrington and was right, but at the same time Murray had - contrary to the facts - claimed not to have been the author of the offending article and was subsequently convicted of perjury; Incidentally, a break-in into the editorial offices of Queen's Messenger instigated by Carrington is said to have provided evidence that Murray had written the article. This resulted in a new trial, but before the court case could be continued, Murray decided to flee and moved Murray to Paris in July 1869 . With that he turned his back on England for good and was not to return there. In August 1870, Murray was declared bankrupt in absentia in London.

The years in Paris (1869–1881)

In Paris he took the name Comte de Rethel d'Aragon , which title he had obtained by marrying a Spanish nobleman. Since 1874 he worked - from France - together with Edmund Yates on the magazine The World , which both had founded together. The World made English press history through the investigative reports that appeared in it, but also through the deliberate indiscretions and revelations published in it; Most of the posts, often satirical, focused on news or scandals from the British upper class.

Murray remained active as a writer during his time in Paris and wrote (in English) numerous essays, satirical studies of society and several novels. He was also a correspondent for the London Daily News and the Pall Mall Gazette ; other articles appeared in the weekly Illustrated London News.

Murray died in Passy (Paris) on December 20th and was buried there on December 24th. His widow published several of his books after his death, not least Murray's memoires, People I Have Met , published in 1883 .

Appreciation

In the history of modern English journalism, Murray is considered a typical representative of the disrespectful, if always witty and witty, social columnist and essayist to whom nothing was sacred, least of all government authorities, official institutions and the conventions or preferences of the British upper class. The fact that he indulged in gossip in his many magazine articles and contributed to making society gossip suitable for the media has left lasting traces in English press history. The highlight of his work, however, are certainly his biting, satirical travel reports from the years 1854–1856, which are in no way inferior to the reports of his now more famous colleague and contemporary Mark Twain in terms of wit, esprit and sharpness .

Fonts

• 1853ː Droits et devoirs des envoyés diplomatiques. Documens recueillis et arrangés, Londonː Richard Bentley
• 1854ː Doǐne; or, The National Songs and Legends of Roumania . Londonː Smith, Elder & Co. Republished in 1859 by The National Songs and Legends of Roumania . Londonː Smith, Elder & Co
• 1854 (anonymous) ː The Roving Englishman . Londonː G. Routledge & Co.
• 1855 (anonymous) ː Turkey; Being Sketches from Life by The Roving Englishman . Londonː G. Routledge & Co. Republished later (1877).
• 1856 (anonymous) ː Pictures from the Battle Fields. By "the Roving Englishman" . Londonː G. Routledge & Co.
• 1859 (anonymous) ː Sport and its Pleasures, Physical and Gastronomical . Londonː Chapman & Hall
• 1861ː The Oyster: Where, How, and When to Find, Breed, Cook, and Eat it . Londonː Trübner & Co.
• 1871 (as "Trois-Etoiles") ː The Member for Paris: A Tale of the Second Empire . 3 volumes. Londonː Smith, Elder & Co. / Copyright Edition . Leipzig. Bernhard Tauchnitz
  • French edition Un député de Paris . Parisː Calmann Lévy 1876
• 1872 Men of the Second Empire . Londonː Smith, Elder & Co.
• 1873 (anonymous) ː The Men of the Third Republic; or, the Present Leader of France. Reprinted from the London Daily News . Philadelphiaː Porter & Coates
  • Russian edition (anonymous) ː Lyudi tret'ey respubliki (люди третьей республики). St. Petersburgː V. Tuschnowa 1873
• 1874 (as "Trois-Etoiles") ː Young Brown or the Law of Inheritance. Copyright Edition . 2 volumes. Leipzigː Bernhard Tauchnitz
• 1876 ​​(anonymous) ː French Pictures in English Chalk. Londonː Smith, Elder & Co. Copyright Edition . 2 volumes. Leipzigː Bernhard Tauchnitz
• 1876 ​​(as "Silly Billy") ː Strange Tales. From "Vanity Fair" . Londonː Vanity Fair Office. Copyright Edition ː Leipzigː Bernhard Tauchnitz 1878
• 1876 ​​(as "Trois-Etoiles") ː The Boudoir Cabal . 3 volumes. Copyright Edition. Leipzigː Bernhard Tauchnitz
• 1877ː Turkey, Being Sketches from Life by the Roving Englishman. A New Edition (the first edition was published in 1856).
  • French editionː Les Turcs chez les Turcs . J. Butler. Parisː Maurice Dreyfous 1878
• 1878ː French Pictures in English Chalk (Second Series) . Londonː Smith, Elder & Co.
• 1878 (anonymous) ː That Artful Vicar. The Story of What a Clergyman Tried to Do for Others and Did for Himself . 2 volumes. Londonː Smith, Elder & Co.
• 1878ː The Russians of To-day . Copyright Edition . Leipzigː Bernhard Tauchnitz
  • French editionː Les Russes chez les Russes . J. Butler. Parisː Maurice Dreyfous 1878
• 1878ː Round about France . Londonː Macmillan & Co.
• 1878 (anonymous) ː Lucullus, or Palatable Essays . Londonː Kemington & Co.
• 1881ː Side-Lights on English Society, or Sketches from Life, Social and Satirical . 2 volumes. Londonː Vizetelly & Co.
• 1881 (anonymous) ː Six Months in the Ranks; or, the gentleman private . Londonː Smith, Elder & Co.
• 1883 (posthumous) ː People I Have Met . Londonː Vizetelly & Co.
• 1885 (posthumous) ː Under the Lens: Social Photographs. 2 volumes. Londonː Vizetelly & Co.
• 1887 (posthumous) ː Spendthrifts, and Other Social Photographs . Londonː Vizetelly & Co.
• 1888 (posthumous) ː High Life in France Under the Republic: Social and Satirical Sketches in Paris and the Provinces . Londonː Vizetelly & Co.

literature

• Johannes Berchtholdː Law and Justice in Consular Justice. British extraterritoriality in the Ottoman Empire 1825–1914 . R. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, p. 19 f.
• GR Berridgeː A Diplomatic Whistleblower in the Victorian Era: The Life and Writings of EC Grenville-Murray , Second Edition (Revised). DiploFoundation 2015.
• GR Berridgeː Diplomacy, Satire and Victorians. The Life and Writings of EC Grenville-Murray . Second edition 2018.
• Sabine Clemmː Dickens, Journalism, and Nationhood. Mapping the World in Household Worlds. Routledge, New York - London 2009, esp.p. 98 f
• Joseph Hattonː Journalistic London. Being a Series of Sketches of Famous Pens and Papers of the Day . S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, London 1882, pp. 106–110 ( archive )
• Pierre-Olivier Lapieː Les anglais à Paris de la Renaissance à l'Entente Cordiale . Fayard, Paris 1976.
• Bernth Lindforsː Ira Aldridge. The Last Years, 1855-1867 . Univ. of Rochester Press, Rochester 2015, pp. 227-231.
• Raymond A. Jonesː The British Diplomatic Service 1814–1914 . Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, Waterloo (Ontario) 1983, esp.p. 110, 154 f.

Web links

• Anne Lohrliː " Eustace Clare Grenville Murray " (1971). Dickens Journals Online (The University of Buckingham).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ GR Berridge gives the year 1823 in its publications, while only the German Meyersche Konversationslexikon even mentions the year 1819.
2. ^ Thomas Seccombe, revised by Joseph Coohill: Murray, (Eustace Clare) Grenville. Accessed November 2, 2019 (English, access is subject to a fee). 
3. ↑ In Oxford a. a. Studied Greek, as from a subordinate clause in Doǐne's foreword; or, the National Songs and Legends of Roumania (1854, p. xlvii).
4. ↑ ^{a b} Hatton 1882, p. 107.
5. ^ John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland (1784-1859), from 1851 to 1855 ambassador to Vienna.
6. ↑ See also Alex Drace-Francis: The Making of Modern Romanian Culture. Literacy and the Development of National Identity . Tauris Academic, London 2006, pp. 161 .
7. ↑ Murray , Doǐne (1854), pp xlvi.
8. ↑ Namely the folk song and ballad texts collected in Moldova, published in two volumes in 1852 and 1853 Poezii poporale. Balade (Cîntice bătrâneşti) adunate şi îndreptate de Vasile Alecsandri.
9. ↑ See also: The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation . Ed .: Peter France. UP, Oxford 2000, pp. 214 .
10. ↑ "it was thought that if he [Murray] Sir Hector Stubble remained tied to each other by official bonds, either Sir Hector would murder him, or would himself die of rage" ː Hatton 1882, p. 108.
11. ↑ Not as early as 1855, as can be wrongly read in some representations - including the entry in the English Wikipedia .
12. ↑ Vassilis Kardasis: Diaspora Merchants in the Black Sea. The Greeks in Southern Russia, 1775-1861 . Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland 2001, pp. 68, 91 .
13. ^ "The notorious and corrupt consul-general in Odessa, whose misdeeds were chronicled in a Blue Book" ː Jones 1983, p. 110.
14. ↑ Hatton 1882, p. 108.
15. ↑ "However displeasing it may be to the prosperous Jews of our time, masters as they are of the secrets and councils of the world" ː quoted in Lindfors 2015, p. 229.
16. ↑ Lindfors 2015, pp. 229 f., 319.
17. ↑ "polemical, personal, unfair and disloyal" ː Hatton 1882 S. 108th
18. ↑ See the detailed account of the events in Jones 1983, p. 155 f.
19. ^ The Bankruptcy Act, 1869 . In: The London Gazette . No. 23649 , August 26, 1870, p. 3988 .
20. ^ Marquis de Ruvigny: The Nobilities of Europe . Melville and Company, London 1909, p. 92 .