IN
LOVING
MEMORY
OF
DAPHNE M. RUSSELL
MARCH 30TH 1952.
THAT GOD
HAVE MERCY
ON MY SOUL
AND MAN
PROTECT
MY DUST
SO LONG
AS DOTH A
ROBIN SING
THIS IS
MY TRUST.
Daphne Mabel Russell of Classas, Coachford and previously Longueville, Mallow and Castle Cottage, Killinardrish, was a well known photographer, with many of her beautiful nature and rural life photographs appearing in the Irish and Sunday Independent in the 1930s. She was a member of the Cork Camera Club, with whom she exhibited. She was a granddaughter of Sir William Howard Russell, the famous “Russell of the TIMES”, the war correspondent who exposed the conditions faced by the soldiers in the Crimea and whose work led to the arrival there of Florence Nightingale. She had a small annuity (£20) from her relatives the Longfield family of Mallow, with whom she lived for some years. She was the literary agent of author Helen Mather (her aunt), a prolific author in the 1920s and 30s, better known then than now. In her will she left £50 to The Times, £500 to her friend Ms Aileen Leader, and £10 to Mrs Buckley, Church Lodge, Coachford, as well as several other small amounts. She also left £1 annually to keep her grave in good condition! Her grave carries the lovely inscription 'That God have mercy on my soul, and Man protect my dust, so long as doth a robin sing, this is my trust'. There is also a beautiful carving of a robin on her memorial cross. (Source: ACR Heritage).