Cunning Murrell

by Arthur Morrison

Arthur George Morrison (1 November 1863 - 4 December 1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End, and for his detective stories, featuring the detective Martin Hewitt. He also collected Japanese art and published several works on the subject. He left a large collection of paintings and other works of art to the British Museum after his death in 1945.Morrison's best known work of fiction is his novel A Child of the Jago (1896). Early life: Morrison was born in Poplar, in the East End of London, on 1 November 1863. His father George was an engine fitter at the London Docks. George died in 1871 of tuberculosis, leaving his wife Jane with three children including Arthur. Arthur spent his youth in the East End. In 1879 he began working as an office boy in the Architect's Department of the London School Board. He later remembered frequenting used bookstores in Whitechapel Road around this time. In 1880 Arthur's mother took over a shop in Grundy Street. Morrison published his first work, a humorous poem, in the magazine Cycling in 1880, and took up cycling and boxing. He continued to publish works in various cycling journals. Career: In 1885 Morrison published his first serious journalistic work in the newspaper The Globe. In 1886, after having worked his way up to the rank of a third-class clerk, he was appointed to a position at the People's Palace, in Mile End. In 1888 he was given reading privileges at the British Museum. In the same year he published a collection of thirteen sketches entitled Cockney Corner, describing life and conditions in several London districts including Soho, Whitechapel, and Bow Street. In 1889 he became an editor of the paper Palace Journal, reprinting some of his Cockney Corner sketches, and writing commentaries on books and other subjects including the life of London poor people. In 1890 he left this job and joined the editorial staff of The Globe and moved to lodgings in the Strand. In 1891 he published his first book The Shadows Around Us, a collection of supernatural stories. In October 1891 his short story A Street was published in Macmillan's Magazine. In 1892 he collaborated with illustrator J. A. Sheppard on a collection of animal sketches, one entitled My Neighbors' Dogs, for The Strand Magazine. Later that year he married Elizabeth Thatcher at Forest Gate. He befriended writer and editor William Ernest Henley around this time, publishing stories of working-class life in Henley's National Observer between 1892-94. His son Guy Morrison was born in 1893. In 1894 Morrison published his first detective story featuring the detective Martin Hewitt. In November he published his short story collection Tales of Mean Streets, dedicating the work to Henley. The collection was reviewed in 1896 in America by Jacob Riis. Morrison later said that the work was publicly banned. Reviewers of the collection objected to his story Lizerunt, causing Morrison to write a response in 1895. Later in 1894 he published Martin Hewitt, Investigator. In 1895 he was invited by writer and clergyman Reverend A. O. M. Jay to visit the Old Nichol Street Rookery. Morrison continued to develop his interest in Japanese art, which he had been introduced to by a friend in 1890. Morrison began writing his novel A Child of the Jago in early 1896. The novel was published in November by Henley. It described in graphic detail living conditions in the East End, including the permeation of violence into everyday life (it was a barely fictionalised account of life in the Old Nichol Street Rookery). Morrison also published The Adventures of Martin Hewitt in 1896. A second edition of A Child of the Jago came out in 1897..............

106 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1900

About the author

Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English author and journalist, known for his realistic novels about London's East End and for his detective stories. In 1890, he left his job as a clerk at the People's Palace and joined the editorial staff of the Evening Globe newspaper. The following year, he published a story titled "A Street", which was subsequently published in book form in Tales of Mean Streets (1894). Around this time, Morrison was also producing detective short stories which emulated those of Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes. Three volumes of Martin Hewitt stories were published before the publication of the novel for which Morrison is most famous: A Child of the Jago (1896). Other less well-received novels and stories followed, until Morrison effectively retired from writing fiction around 1913. Between then and his death, he seems to have concentrated on building his collection of Japanese prints and paintings.

Amongst his other works are Martin Hewitt: Investigator (1894), Zig-Zags at the Zoo (1894), Chronicles of Martin Hewett (1895), Adventures of Martin Hewett (1896), and The Hole in the Wall (1902).

Reviews

[Steven Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rate this highly. So much so in fact that I published a version of it alongside the Strand Magazine article where Morrison talks about his research for the novel and his meeting with people who knew James Murrell. I have also included an extract from a history book that may have been the original material that set Morrison on his quest and sparked his interest. The collection goes under the name of Spirit of Old Essex.

[Andy Chew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't for everyone, but if you have an interest in the occult and want to delve deeper into some folk stories that are certainly embellished by the author, then go for it!

[Trunatrschild · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is difficult to describe. Apparently it was written around the turn of the 1900's by a man who actually got to read some of Cunning Murrell's papers, but it's fiction too, fiction with some fact.
At first I was bored to tears with only the well written accent of the speakers to entertain me, but then it grew on me. It's like a little slice of life in the mid 1800's in small town southern England.
Cunning Murrell is either the bases for other knowledge of Cunningfolk or he's a typical specimen, difficult to know.
The story is well written and lyrical, enjoyable in a soothing way, till the end where it started to verge on being a 'thriller'. It could have been longer with more in depth character building, but that really wasn't the point, it's just a window into the past. I'd recommend it, but don't expect a lot of information, just an enjoyable story.