Robert Smith Surtees (17 May 180516 March 1864) was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer, widely known as R. S. Surtees. He was the second son of Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley Hall, a member of an old

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

family. He is remembered for his invented character of Jorrocks, a vulgar but good-natured sporting

cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...

grocer.

Early life

Surtees attended a school at Ovingham and then

Durham School Durham School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (UK), public school tradition located in Durham, England, Durham, North East England. Since 2021 it has been part of th ...

, before being articled in 1822 to Robert Purvis, a solicitor in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Career

Surtees 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's best work. All Surtees's novels were composed at Hamsterley Hall, where he wrote standing up at a desk, like

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

. 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 Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

in 1864, and was buried in Ebchester 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 Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...

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 Kirk in

Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Northumberland, Halton, Acomb, Northumberland, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was k ...

. As a creator of comic personalities, Surtees is still readable today.

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray ( ; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was an English novelist and illustrator. He is known for his Satire, satirical works, particularly his 1847–1848 novel ''Vanity Fair (novel), Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portra ...

envied him his powers of observation, while

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

considered him "a master of life" and ranked him with

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

. 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 of ''

The Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was the Debut novel, first novel serialised from March 1836 to November 1837 by English author Charles Dickens. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Bo ...

'', 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 (1818–1879), daughter of Addison Fenwick of

Bishopwearmouth Bishopwearmouth () is a former village and parish which now constitutes the west side of Sunderland City Centre, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England, merging with the settlement as it expanded outwards in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is ...

, by whom he had one son Anthony (1847–1871) 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 in France in 1940.

Influences on others

The character " Stalky" (based on Lionel Dunsterville) from

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

's '' Stalky & Co.'' (1899) has Surtees's ''Handley Cross'' by heart and quotes from it repeatedly. The novels of Surtees are mentioned several times in

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World ...

's 1928 autobiographical novel '' Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man''. Mr. Jorrocks' phrase "my beloved 'earers" often appears in the speech of children in the books of Monica Marsden. Anthony Blanche, as he prepares Charles Ryder for their dinner outing to Thame in ''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of Charles Ryder, esp ...

'' (1945), says that they will "imagine ourselves…where? Not on a j-j-jaunt with J-J-Jorrocks anyway." "There were ''Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities''; there were Soapey Sponge and Mrs. Asquith's ''Memoirs'' and ''Big Game Shooting in Nigeria'', all spread open." From ''

Mrs Dalloway ''Mrs Dalloway'' is a novel by Virginia Woolf published on 14 May 1925. It details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional upper-class woman in post-First World War England. The working title of ''Mrs Dalloway'' was ''The Hours ...

'' by

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

Legacy

Surtees was not among the most popular novelists in the nineteenth century. His work lacked the self-conscious idealism, sentimentality and moralism of the Victorian era; the historian Norman Gash asserted that "His leading male characters were coarse or shady; his leading ladies dashing and far from virtuous; his outlook on society satiric to the point of cynicism."

Thomas Seccombe Thomas Seccombe (1866–1923) was a miscellaneous English writer and, from 1891 to 1901, assistant editor of the ''Dictionary of National Biography'', in which he wrote over 700 entries. A son of physician and episcopus vagans John Thomas S ...

, writing in 1898 for the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', said that it was the illustrations of Leech that gave Surtees' work any notability:

The coarseness of the text was redeemed in 1854 by the brilliantly humorous illustrations of John Leech, who utilised a sketch of a coachman made in church as his model for the ex-grocer. Some of Leech's best work is to be found among his illustrations to Surtees's later novels, notably ''Ask Mamma'' and ''Mr. Romford's Hounds''. Without the original illustrations these works have very small interest.

However, for the very reasons that the Victorians deprecated him, Surtees' work has continued to be read long after some of his more popular contemporaries have been forgotten. Gash notes that George Whyte-Melville's hunting novels were far better selling in their day than Surtees's but are now no longer read and appear sanitised in comparison. Gash concludes by writing that:

Surtees's range was limited, his style often clumsy and colloquial. Even in the better-constructed novels the plots are loose and discursive. Nevertheless, his sharp, authentic descriptions of the hunting field have retained their popularity among fox-hunters.... Among a wider public his mordant observations on men, women, and manners; his entertaining array of eccentrics, rakes, and rogues; his skill in the construction of lively dialogue (a matter over which he took great pains); his happy genius for unforgettable and quotable phrases; and above all, his supreme comic masterpiece, Jorrocks, have won him successive generations of devoted followers. Although his proper place among Victorian novelists is not easy to determine, his power as a creative artist was recognized, among professional writers, by Thackeray,
Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
,
Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...
, and Siegfried Sassoon, and earned the tributes of laymen as distinguished and diverse as
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...
,
Lord Rosebery Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death of h ...
, and
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
.

There is a statue of Jorrocks by

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

outside 96 George Street,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, London. A musical based on his works entitled ''Jorrocks'' with music and lyrics by

David Heneker David William Heneker (31 March 1906 – 30 January 2001) was a writer and composer of British popular music and musicals, best known for creating the music and lyrics for '' Half a Sixpence''. Life and career Heneker was born in Southsea, Eng ...

received a West End run in 1966.

R. S. Surtees Society

The R. S. Surtees Society was founded in 1979 and holds an annual dinner in London. Its stated objectives are: * To promote the works of R. S. Surtees, to maintain his reputation as an author and to stimulate interest in his literary merits. * To republish the works of R. S. Surtees as and when the Executive Committee considers necessary and is satisfied that demand exists; and to publish or republish any biographical or appreciative material about R. S. Surtees. * To arrange such meetings and events as in the opinion of the Committee will achieve the above object; and * If, in the opinion of the Committee, it is considered advisable to raise funds to achieve the above objects, to publish or republish works by other authors, or prints by artists, or other items of a literary artistic association.R. S. Surtees Society web-site
(accessed 23 July 2010)

Major works

Fiction

* ''Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities'' (1838) * ''Handley Cross'' (1843) * ''Hillingdon Hall'' (1845) * ''Hawbuck Grange'' (1847) * ''Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour'' (1853) * ''Ask Mamma'' (1858) * ''Plain or Ringlets ?'' (1858–1860, in twelve parts) * ''Mr Facey Romford's Hounds'' (1865) * ''Young Tom Hall'' (unfinished)

Non-fiction

* ''The Horseman's Manual'' (1831) * ''Analysis of the Hunting Field'' (1846) * ''Hints to Railway Travellers'' (1852)

Bound editions comprising collections of short stories, essays and papers

* ''Town and Country Papers (incorporating "Hints to Railway Travellers")'' * ''Hunting Tours of Surtees'' * ''Mr Jorrocks Thoughts on Hunting and Other Matters''

Notes

;Attribution * *

External links

* * *
R. S. Surtees Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surtees, Robert Smith 1805 births 1864 deaths 19th-century English male writers 19th-century English novelists English male journalists British male novelists Fox hunters Fox hunting writers High sheriffs of Durham People educated at Durham School People from Ovingham Writers from Northumberland