H. Russell Wakefield
Encyclopedia
Herbert Russell Wakefield (1890–1964) was an English
short story
writer
, novelist, publisher, and civil servant
chiefly remembered today for his ghost stories
.
, who would become bishop of Birmingham
in 1911. He was educated at Marlborough College
before attending University College, Oxford
, where he took second-class honours
in modern history and played first-class cricket, golf, hockey and football. From 1912 to 1914 he was secretary to Viscount Northcliffe
; he then served in France and the Balkans during World War I, attaining the rank of captain.
Wakefield served as his father's secretary in 1920, when he accompanied the bishop on a lengthy tour of America. There he met and married Barbara Standish Waldo, an American woman whose parents were reputed to be wealthy. The Wakefields settled in London, where Wakefield went to work as a chief editor for the book publisher William Collins, Sons and Co.
, and she worked as a nurse. They were divorced in 1936, and in 1946 Wakefield was married again, to Jessica Sidney Davey. His experiences in the publishing world provided him with background material for several unusual and eerie tales, including "Messrs Turkes and Talbot."
Shortly before he died, Wakefield's wife wrote August Derleth that her husband had destroyed his correspondence files, manuscripts and all photographs of himself. However, a portrait photograph of him can be seen here.
(1961). In 1946, August Derleth
's Arkham House
issued an expanded version
of The Clock Strikes Twelve for the U.S. market; they were also the publishers of Strayers from Sheol. In 1978, John Murray
published The Best Ghost Stories of H. Russell Wakefield, edited by Richard Dalby
, which spanned Wakefield's career and featured some previously uncollected tales. A series of collections comprising his complete output of published ghost stories was produced in the 1990s by Ash-Tree Press in limited editions that quickly went out of print. Ash-Tree also published a volume of previously unpublished stories, Reunion at Dawn and Other Uncollected Ghost Stories, in 2000.
Wakefield's supernatural fiction was strongly influenced by the work of M. R. James
and Algernon Blackwood
.
"The Red Lodge", "The Thirteenth Hole at Duncaster", "Blind Man's Buff", "‘Look Up There!’" and "‘He Cometh and He Passeth By!’" are among his most widely anthologised tales.
Wakefield's atmospheric work in the field has been frequently compared to that of M. R. James
. Many critics consider him one of the great masters of the supernatural
horror
tale. August Derleth
called him "the last major representative of a ghost story tradition that began with Sheridan Le Fanu
and reached its peak with Montague Rhodes James". John Betjeman
noted, "M. R. James is the greatest master of the ghost story. Henry James
, Sheridan Le Fanu and H. Russell Wakefield are equal seconds." M. R. James was slightly more reserved in his praise, calling They Return at Evening "a mixed bag, from which I should remove one or two that leave a nasty taste".
Wakefield is best known for his ghost stories, but he produced work outside the field. He was greatly interested in the criminal mind and wrote two non-fiction
criminology
studies, The Green Bicycle Case (1930) and Landru: The French Bluebeard (1936). He also wrote three detective
novels: Hearken to the Evidence (1933), Belt of Suspicion (1936) and Hostess of Death (1938).
In 1968, BBC Television
produced a dramatization of Wakefield's supernatural story "The Triumph of Death", starring Claire Bloom
.
Criticism of Wakefield's work is scattered and uncollected. The majority of it exists in reprints of his collections, in brief articles in reference books, and in surveys such as Jack Sullivan
's Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood (1978). Appraisals can be found in Supernatural Fiction Writers (Scribners, 1985), the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers (St. James Press, 1998), and Supernatural Literature of the World (Greenwood Press, 2005).
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, novelist, publisher, and civil servant
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
chiefly remembered today for his ghost stories
Ghost story
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...
.
Life
Wakefield was the third of four children of the clergyman Henry Russell WakefieldHenry Russell Wakefield
Henry Russell Wakefield was an Anglican Bishop and author in the first quarter of the 20th century. Born on 1 December 1854 he was educated at Tonbridge School and the University of Bonn...
, who would become bishop of Birmingham
Bishop of Birmingham
The Bishop of Birmingham heads the Church of England diocese of Birmingham, in the Province of Canterbury, in England.The diocese covers the North West of the historical county of Warwickshire and has its see in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, where the seat of the diocese is located at the...
in 1911. He was educated at Marlborough College
Marlborough College
Marlborough College is a British co-educational independent school for day and boarding pupils, located in Marlborough, Wiltshire.Founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England clergy, the school now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. Currently there are just over 800...
before attending University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
, where he took second-class honours
British undergraduate degree classification
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
in modern history and played first-class cricket, golf, hockey and football. From 1912 to 1914 he was secretary to Viscount Northcliffe
Viscount Northcliffe
Viscount Northcliffe, of St Peter in the County of Kent, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, It was created in 1918 for the press baron Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Baron Northcliffe. He had already been created a Baronet in 1904 and Baron Northcliffe, of the Isle of Thanet in the County of...
; he then served in France and the Balkans during World War I, attaining the rank of captain.
Wakefield served as his father's secretary in 1920, when he accompanied the bishop on a lengthy tour of America. There he met and married Barbara Standish Waldo, an American woman whose parents were reputed to be wealthy. The Wakefields settled in London, where Wakefield went to work as a chief editor for the book publisher William Collins, Sons and Co.
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, and she worked as a nurse. They were divorced in 1936, and in 1946 Wakefield was married again, to Jessica Sidney Davey. His experiences in the publishing world provided him with background material for several unusual and eerie tales, including "Messrs Turkes and Talbot."
Shortly before he died, Wakefield's wife wrote August Derleth that her husband had destroyed his correspondence files, manuscripts and all photographs of himself. However, a portrait photograph of him can be seen here.
Work
Wakefield's ghost stories were published in several collections during the course of his lengthy writing career: They Return at Evening (1928), Old Man's Beard: Fifteen Disturbing Tales (1929), Imagine a Man in a Box (1931), Ghost Stories (1932), A Ghostly Company (1935), The Clock Strikes Twelve: Tales of the Supernatural (1940), and Strayers from SheolStrayers from Sheol
Strayers from Sheol is a collection of stories by author H. Russell Wakefield. It was released in 1961 and was the second collection of the author's stories to be published by Arkham House...
(1961). In 1946, August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
's Arkham House
Arkham House
Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...
issued an expanded version
The Clock Strikes Twelve
The Clock Strikes Twelve is a collection of stories by author H. Russell Wakefield. It was released in 1946 and was the first collection of the author's stories to be published by Arkham House...
of The Clock Strikes Twelve for the U.S. market; they were also the publishers of Strayers from Sheol. In 1978, John Murray
John Murray (publisher)
John Murray is an English publisher, renowned for the authors it has published in its history, including Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, and Charles Darwin...
published The Best Ghost Stories of H. Russell Wakefield, edited by Richard Dalby
Richard Dalby
Richard Dalby is an editor and literary researcher. His anthologies in the 1980s and 1990s unearthed rare supernatural tales, many of whose authors' original collections of stories have been reprinted in the last decade. He has edited over 50 anthologies and collections of ghost stories...
, which spanned Wakefield's career and featured some previously uncollected tales. A series of collections comprising his complete output of published ghost stories was produced in the 1990s by Ash-Tree Press in limited editions that quickly went out of print. Ash-Tree also published a volume of previously unpublished stories, Reunion at Dawn and Other Uncollected Ghost Stories, in 2000.
Wakefield's supernatural fiction was strongly influenced by the work of M. R. James
M. R. James
Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre...
and Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T...
.
"The Red Lodge", "The Thirteenth Hole at Duncaster", "Blind Man's Buff", "‘Look Up There!’" and "‘He Cometh and He Passeth By!’" are among his most widely anthologised tales.
Wakefield's atmospheric work in the field has been frequently compared to that of M. R. James
M. R. James
Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, , who used the publication name M. R. James, was an English mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge and of Eton College . He is best remembered for his ghost stories, which are regarded as among the best in the genre...
. Many critics consider him one of the great masters of the supernatural
Supernatural fiction
Supernatural fiction is a literary genre exploiting or requiring as plot devices or themes some contradictions of the commonplace natural world and materialist assumptions about it....
horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
tale. August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
called him "the last major representative of a ghost story tradition that began with Sheridan Le Fanu
Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....
and reached its peak with Montague Rhodes James". John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...
noted, "M. R. James is the greatest master of the ghost story. Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
, Sheridan Le Fanu and H. Russell Wakefield are equal seconds." M. R. James was slightly more reserved in his praise, calling They Return at Evening "a mixed bag, from which I should remove one or two that leave a nasty taste".
Wakefield is best known for his ghost stories, but he produced work outside the field. He was greatly interested in the criminal mind and wrote two non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
studies, The Green Bicycle Case (1930) and Landru: The French Bluebeard (1936). He also wrote three detective
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
novels: Hearken to the Evidence (1933), Belt of Suspicion (1936) and Hostess of Death (1938).
In 1968, BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
produced a dramatization of Wakefield's supernatural story "The Triumph of Death", starring Claire Bloom
Claire Bloom
Claire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
.
Criticism of Wakefield's work is scattered and uncollected. The majority of it exists in reprints of his collections, in brief articles in reference books, and in surveys such as Jack Sullivan
Jack Sullivan (literary scholar)
Jack Sullivan is an American literary scholar, essayist, author, editor, musicologist, and short story writer. He is one of the leading modern figures in the study of the horror genre, particularly the ghost story....
's Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood (1978). Appraisals can be found in Supernatural Fiction Writers (Scribners, 1985), the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers (St. James Press, 1998), and Supernatural Literature of the World (Greenwood Press, 2005).
External links
- H. Russell Wakefield at the Supernatural Fiction Database