Julian Sturgis
Encyclopedia
Julian Russell Sturgis was an American
-born novelist, poet, librettist and lyricist who lived and worked in Britain nearly all of his life. He played football as an amateur for the Wanderers F.C.
winning the English FA Cup
in 1873, and was thus the first American to play in a winning FA Cup Final
team.
, Massachusetts
but moved to England
when only seven months old when his father, Russell Sturgis, a successful Boston and Far East merchant (1805–1887), joined Baring Brothers in London. Sturgis's mother was Julia Boit, his father's third wife. He was a pupil at Eton College
, where he played an active role in the mixed Wall
and Field
XIs in 1867, being Keeper of the Field in 1867, and editing the Eton College Journal.
On leaving Eton, he went up to Balliol College
, Oxford
where he rowed for three years for the College. After graduating, he became a barrister
and acquired British
nationality.
in 1872, making his first appearance in a 2–0 defeat by the Royal Engineers
on 30 November 1872. Wanderers automatically qualified for the 1873 FA Cup Final as the cup holders, having won the inaugural competition the previous year. Although having made only a handful of appearances for the Wanderers, Sturgis was selected for the final playing as one of five forwards. In the final, played at Lillie Bridge
on 29 March 1873, the Wanderers defeated Oxford University
2–0, with goals from Arthur Kinnaird
and Charles Wollaston
. As all the other players in this or the previous Cup Final were either English or Scottish, Sturgis was thus the first American to appear in, let alone play on the winning side of, an F.A. Cup Final. This claim is often made with respect to John Harkes
, who played on the losing side for Sheffield Wednesday
in the 1993 FA Cup Final
.
Sturgis appeared twice more for the Wanderers, with his final appearance being on 3 November 1875. Sturgis also played for the Old Etonians
, and in a tight battle in the FA Cup Semi-final against Oxford University
played at the Kennington Oval
on 19 February 1876, he scored the only goal for the public school old boys to take them to their second consecutive final, ironically against the Wanderers. The final
was also played at The Oval, and the first match on 11 March 1876 ended in a 1–1 draw. The Wanderers were victorious 3–0 in the replay played on 18 March, with two goals from Thomas Hughes
and one by Charles Wollaston
.
In 1885, Sturgis wrote the libretto
for Arthur Goring Thomas
's opera, "Nadeshda", which was first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre
on 16 April 1885, and was considered to be Thomas's best opera.
Amongst his songs were "Sleep" (Beautiful up from the deeps of the solemn sea), "Through the ivory gate" (I had a dream last night), and "Whence", which were set to music by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry.
His best-known collaboration was the opera Ivanhoe
in 1891 with Arthur Sullivan
, who was under pressure from the musical establishment to write a grand opera
. The composer asked his usual collaborator, W.S. Gilbert, to supply the libretto, but the latter declined, saying that in grand opera the librettist's role is subordinate to that of the composer. Sullivan turned, instead, to Sturgis, who was recommended by Gilbert. Ivanhoe, based on Sir Walter Scott
's novel, opened at Richard D'Oyly Carte
's new Royal English Opera House
on 31 January 1891. The libretto won praise as "a skilful and fairly dramatic adaptation of Scott's novel and a polished example of poetic lyric-writing". Although the opera was a success, running for an unprecedented 155 performances, it passed into virtual obscurity after the opera house failed. It was, as critic Hermann Klein observed, "the strangest comingling of success and failure ever chronicled in the history of British lyric enterprise!"
In 1901, he wrote the libretto for Charles Villiers Stanford
's opera, "Much Ado About Nothing", which was mainly a re-ordering of passages from the play by William Shakespeare
.
wrote to his widow:
Sturgis was buried in Compton Cemetery, Compton in Surrey
.
Old Etonians
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-born novelist, poet, librettist and lyricist who lived and worked in Britain nearly all of his life. He played football as an amateur for the Wanderers F.C.
Wanderers F.C.
Wanderers Football Club is an English amateur football club, based in London, that plays in the Surrey South Eastern Combination. Founded as Forest Football Club in 1859, the club changed its name to Wanderers in 1864....
winning the English FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
in 1873, and was thus the first American to play in a winning FA Cup Final
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most...
team.
Early life
Sturgis was born in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
but moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
when only seven months old when his father, Russell Sturgis, a successful Boston and Far East merchant (1805–1887), joined Baring Brothers in London. Sturgis's mother was Julia Boit, his father's third wife. He was a pupil at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, where he played an active role in the mixed Wall
Eton Wall Game
The Eton wall game is a game similar to football and Rugby Union, that originated from and is still played at Eton College. It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long next to a slightly curved brick wall, erected in 1717....
and Field
Eton Field Game
The Field Game is one of two codes of football devised and played at Eton College. The other is the Eton Wall Game. The game is like football in some ways — the ball is round, but one size smaller than a standard football, and may not be handled — but the off-side rules — known as 'sneaking' — are...
XIs in 1867, being Keeper of the Field in 1867, and editing the Eton College Journal.
On leaving Eton, he went up to Balliol College
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
where he rowed for three years for the College. After graduating, he became a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and acquired British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
nationality.
Football career
He joined the WanderersWanderers F.C.
Wanderers Football Club is an English amateur football club, based in London, that plays in the Surrey South Eastern Combination. Founded as Forest Football Club in 1859, the club changed its name to Wanderers in 1864....
in 1872, making his first appearance in a 2–0 defeat by the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers A.F.C.
The Royal Engineers Association Football Club is an association football team representing the Corps of Royal Engineers, the "Sappers", of the British Army. In the 1870s it was one of the strongest sides in English football, winning the FA Cup in 1875 and being Cup Finalists in four of the first...
on 30 November 1872. Wanderers automatically qualified for the 1873 FA Cup Final as the cup holders, having won the inaugural competition the previous year. Although having made only a handful of appearances for the Wanderers, Sturgis was selected for the final playing as one of five forwards. In the final, played at Lillie Bridge
Lillie Bridge Grounds
The Lillie Bridge Grounds was a sports ground in London near to present day Stamford Bridge, opened around 1867. The ground started to fall into disuse after the opening of Stamford Bridge, and after a riot on September 18, 1887 which destroyed the track and grandstand, it finally closed in...
on 29 March 1873, the Wanderers defeated Oxford University
Oxford University A.F.C.
Oxford University Association Football Club is an English football club representing the University of Oxford.-History:Formed in 1872, the club was a giant of the 1870s, winning the FA Cup 2-0 against Royal Engineers in 1874 and finishing the competition as runners up in 1873, 1877 and 1880, the...
2–0, with goals from Arthur Kinnaird
Arthur Kinnaird, 11th Lord Kinnaird
Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird, 11th Lord Kinnaird KT was a principal of The Football Association and a leading footballer....
and Charles Wollaston
Charles Wollaston
Charles Henry Reynolds Wollaston was an English footballer for Wanderers F.C. and England.Wollaston played for Wanderers in the first FA Cup Final in 1872 and scored in the second final of 1873. In all he won five winner's medals, the first player to achieve this feat.He earned four caps for...
. As all the other players in this or the previous Cup Final were either English or Scottish, Sturgis was thus the first American to appear in, let alone play on the winning side of, an F.A. Cup Final. This claim is often made with respect to John Harkes
John Harkes
John Harkes is an American former soccer player. Harkes was the first American ever to play in the English Premier League, and the second American to score at Wembley Stadium. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. He appeared in two FIFA World Cup tournaments, and won two MLS Cup...
, who played on the losing side for Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
in the 1993 FA Cup Final
1993 FA Cup Final
The 1993 FA Cup Final was contested by Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley. The original match, played on 15 May 1993 finished 1–1, with Arsenal winning the replay on 20 May; 2–1 after extra-time....
.
Sturgis appeared twice more for the Wanderers, with his final appearance being on 3 November 1875. Sturgis also played for the Old Etonians
Old Etonians F.C.
The Old Etonians Football Club is an English football club whose players are taken from previous attendees of Eton College, in Eton, Berkshire.-History:...
, and in a tight battle in the FA Cup Semi-final against Oxford University
Oxford University A.F.C.
Oxford University Association Football Club is an English football club representing the University of Oxford.-History:Formed in 1872, the club was a giant of the 1870s, winning the FA Cup 2-0 against Royal Engineers in 1874 and finishing the competition as runners up in 1873, 1877 and 1880, the...
played at the Kennington Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
on 19 February 1876, he scored the only goal for the public school old boys to take them to their second consecutive final, ironically against the Wanderers. The final
1876 FA Cup Final
Match rules:90 minutes normal time.30 minutes extra-time if scores are level, at captains' discretion.Replay if scores still level.No substitutes.-Summary:The replay took place one week later at the same venue...
was also played at The Oval, and the first match on 11 March 1876 ended in a 1–1 draw. The Wanderers were victorious 3–0 in the replay played on 18 March, with two goals from Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes (footballer)
Thomas Bridges Hughes was an English amateur footballer who was the first player to score two goals in an FA Cup Final, with Wanderers in 1876...
and one by Charles Wollaston
Charles Wollaston
Charles Henry Reynolds Wollaston was an English footballer for Wanderers F.C. and England.Wollaston played for Wanderers in the first FA Cup Final in 1872 and scored in the second final of 1873. In all he won five winner's medals, the first player to achieve this feat.He earned four caps for...
.
Novelist and poet
Sturgis subsequently became a novelist, and amongst his works were:- John-a-Dreams: A Tale (1878)
- Little Comedies - Six Plays in Verse, or Prose (1880)
- Dick's Wandering (1882)
- My Friends and I (1884)
- John Maidment (1886)
- Thraldom (1887)
- Comedy of a Country House (1890)
- Count Julian, A Tragedy (1893)
- A Book of Song (1894; poetry)
- The Folly of Pen Harrington (1897)
- Stephen Callinari (1901)
- Comedy Sketches for Two and Three Characters (1902)
Librettist and lyricist
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
for Arthur Goring Thomas
Arthur Goring Thomas
Arthur Goring Thomas was an English composer. He was the youngest son of Freeman Thomas and Amelia, daughter of Colonel Thomas Frederick.He was born at Ratton Park, Sussex, and educated at Haileybury College...
's opera, "Nadeshda", which was first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
on 16 April 1885, and was considered to be Thomas's best opera.
Amongst his songs were "Sleep" (Beautiful up from the deeps of the solemn sea), "Through the ivory gate" (I had a dream last night), and "Whence", which were set to music by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry.
His best-known collaboration was the opera Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe (opera)
Ivanhoe is a romantic opera in three acts based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott, with music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Julian Sturgis. It premiered at the Royal English Opera House on 31 January 1891 for a consecutive run of 155 performances, unheard of for a grand opera...
in 1891 with Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
, who was under pressure from the musical establishment to write a grand opera
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
. The composer asked his usual collaborator, W.S. Gilbert, to supply the libretto, but the latter declined, saying that in grand opera the librettist's role is subordinate to that of the composer. Sullivan turned, instead, to Sturgis, who was recommended by Gilbert. Ivanhoe, based on Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
's novel, opened at Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era...
's new Royal English Opera House
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...
on 31 January 1891. The libretto won praise as "a skilful and fairly dramatic adaptation of Scott's novel and a polished example of poetic lyric-writing". Although the opera was a success, running for an unprecedented 155 performances, it passed into virtual obscurity after the opera house failed. It was, as critic Hermann Klein observed, "the strangest comingling of success and failure ever chronicled in the history of British lyric enterprise!"
In 1901, he wrote the libretto for Charles Villiers Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
's opera, "Much Ado About Nothing", which was mainly a re-ordering of passages from the play by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
.
Death
Sturgis died on 13 April 1904, aged 55. On the day of his death, Henry JamesHenry 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....
wrote to his widow:
Sturgis was buried in Compton Cemetery, Compton in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
.
Sporting honours
WanderersWanderers F.C.
Wanderers Football Club is an English amateur football club, based in London, that plays in the Surrey South Eastern Combination. Founded as Forest Football Club in 1859, the club changed its name to Wanderers in 1864....
- FA CupFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
winner: 1873
Old Etonians
Old Etonians F.C.
The Old Etonians Football Club is an English football club whose players are taken from previous attendees of Eton College, in Eton, Berkshire.-History:...
- FA CupFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
finalist: 18761876 FA Cup FinalMatch rules:90 minutes normal time.30 minutes extra-time if scores are level, at captains' discretion.Replay if scores still level.No substitutes.-Summary:The replay took place one week later at the same venue...