- Robert Smith Surtees
Robert Smith Surtees (
May 17 ,1803 -March 16 ,1864 ) was an English editor,novelist and sporting writer. He was the second son of Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley Hall, a member of an oldCounty Durham family.Surtees attended school at
Ovingham andDurham School before being articled in 1822 to Robert Purvis, a solicitor in Market Street,Newcastle upon Tyne .He left for London in 1825, intending to practise law in the capital but had difficulty making his way, and began contributing to the "Sporting Magazine". He launched out on his own with the "New Sporting Magazine" in 1831, contributing the comic papers which appeared as "Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities" in 1838. Jorrocks, the sporting cockney grocer, with his vulgarity and good-natured artfulness, was a great success with the public, and Surtees produced more Jorrocks novels in the same vein, notably "Handley Cross" and "Hillingdon Hall", where the description of the house is very reminiscent of Hamsterley. Another hero, Soapey Sponge, appears in "Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour", possibly Surtees best work. All Surtees' novels were composed at Hamsterley Hall, where he wrote standing up at a desk, like Victor Hugo.
In 1835, Surtees abandoned his legal practice and after inheriting Hamsterley Hall in 1838, devoted himself to hunting and shooting, meanwhile writing anonymously for his own pleasure. He was a friend and admirer of the great hunting man Ralph Lambton, who had his headquarters at
Sedgefield County Durham, the 'Melton of the North'. Surtees became Lord High Sheriff of Durham in 1856. He died in Brighton in 1864 and was buried inEbchester church.Though Surtees did not set his novels in any readily identifiable locality, he uses North East place-names like Sheepwash, Howell (How) Burn, and Winford Rig. His memorable
Geordie , James Pigg in "Handley Cross" is based on Joe Kirk, a Slaley huntsman. The famous incident, illustrated by Leech, when Pigg jumps into the melon frame was inspired by a similar episode involving Joe Kirk inCorbridge . As a creator of comic personalities, Surtees is still very readable today.Thackeray envied him his powers of observation, whileWilliam Morris considered him 'a master of life' and ranked him withDickens . The novels are engaging and vigorous, and abound with sharp social observation, with a keener eye than Dickens for the natural world. Perhaps Surtees most resembles the Dickens ofPickwick Papers , which was originally intended as mere supporting matter for a series of sporting illustrations to rival Jorrocks.Most of Surtees's later novels, were illustrated by John Leech. They included "Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour" (1853); "Ask Mamma" (1858); "Plain or Ringlets?" (1860)and "Mr Facey Romford's Hounds" (1865). The last of these novels appeared posthumously.
In 1841 Surtees married Elizabeth Jane Fenwick, daughter of Addison Fenwick of
Bishopwearmouth , by whom he had one son and two daughters. His younger daughter Eleanor married John Vereker, afterwards 5th Viscount Gort. Their son was Field Marshal Lord Gort, commander of the BEF inFrance in 1940.Authorities
*R.S. Surtees, "Jorrocks's Jaunts and Jollities" (London, 1869), containing a biographical memoir of the author
*W.P. Frith, "John Leech, His Life and Work" (2 vols, London, 1891)
*Samuel Halkett and J Laing, "Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain" (4 vols, Edinburgh, 1882-1888).
*Anthony Steel, "Jorrocks's England: On the Works of Robert Smith Surtees" (London: Methuen & Co., 1932).----External links
*gutenberg author|id=Robert_Smith_Surtees|name=Robert Smith Surtees
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