Huckleberry and Muttlebury

[Ravenna]

If anyone is searching for the muse (or inspiration) behind Huckleberry Finn, they should visit the life of a British Rower called Stanley Duff Muttlebury. Muttlebury attended Eton college - visited and studied by Mark Twain on his European tours; going on then to Cambridge University where he was the only man to row in the Oxford v. Cambridge Boat Race five times between 1886-1890. He was additionally, the only man to win four races in a row.
Stanley Muttlebury's great-great grandaughter called Rebecca Muttlebury, visited the Boat Race in April 2007 and was interviewed by the Cambridge News. Older family members held the legend passed on by Stanley that when Muttlebury met Mark Twain, the latter was fascinated by such an unusual name and tried a bit of wordplay, calling him Huckleberry. It was also said that they rowed together which would make some sense, Stanley Muttlebury being renowned for his rowing skills and Mark Twain being experienced as a river pilot on the Mississipi. On departure, Twain told Muttlebury he would write a book about him; seemingly Muttlebury becoming the Americanised Huckleberry and the oar or blade, was changed to Finn.

[GrayFoxDown]

The "Muttlebury" connection is truly a new one on me...I'll have to take your advice and "visit" his life. Even though I haven't done much research into the origins of the name "Huckleberry ," I was always curious to know how Twain came upon the title name/character for his masterpiece.

Anything on Tom Sawyer?!!!...while we're at it. Regards.

[Ravenna]

I've been studying for a Degree in American Literature as a mature student. Strangely enough, Mark Twain wasn't at the top of the reading list but I decided he was so intrinsic to American Literature that he had to be read extensively. In a book I have, the preface tells us: 'Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual: he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew ...'
Twain seemed to be an astute observer of people but employed a form of parody on the person's situation so that it did not always portray the true environment. As a widely travelled person he drew much of his work (as writers often do) on people he met along the way but was careful not to name them directly in his work. It was a different age back then in the 1880s - people didn't really search for 'celebrity status' or fame as they do now and a writer had to tread carefully so the real persona was a shadow of the character in the book.
Extracts from Huckleberry Finn were printed in a Cambridge University magazine called 'The Century' and his work resonated very well with the Cambridge students.

[JennyW]

Records show that the Muttlebury family have deep historical connections in Britain with some migration to America & Canada. The rower (Stanley Muttlebury) was guest at several high profile functions including speeches and dinners where Mark Twain was present. The one in the Savoy Hotel in London had many distinguished men from Oxford & Cambridge in the room. It was likely that the two men did meet at this type of function anyway and there was more than one literary & arts connection. It seems as if R C Lehmann (editor of Punch) and author of several books was a friend to both of them.
Don't know if this helps.

[Ravenna]

This is an interesting development JennyW, and I've been busy on this one. I've borrowed a book called 'Hear the Boat Sing' by Geoffrey Page where the writer Rudolph Chambers Lehmann - otherwise known as Rudie Lehmann or R C Lehmann is quoted on the following:

''Muttle' (Muttlebury) rowed five times for Cambridge, from 1886 to 1890, winning in all but the last year, and had won the Goblets three times with different partners ... he had been taught in the orthodox nursery of Eton, with whom he had twice won the Ladies'. An enormously powerful heavyweight, he drew these lines from Rudie Lehmann (barrister, rower, writer, Liberal MP):

His blade sweeps through the water, as he swings his 13.10
And pulls it all, and more than all, that brawny
king of men.

The Rowing Almanack describes Stanley Muttlebury as a giant among giants whose prowess and feats of strength had become legendary even in his own lifetime. On the Cam they used to tell how one day he took a brand new set of oars down to a bank tub and broke every one of them. He was to become for many years one of the mainstays of Thames.'

Rudie Lehmann was father to the successful Cambridge writer, Rosamund Lehmann and actress Beatrix Lehmann. His wife Alice was an American and they too lived on the banks of the Thames. Muttlebury was a regular visitor to the house and they were companions both in the rowing world and socially. I also found a website regarding the publication of Huckleberry Finn in England (1884) before it hit the bookshelves in the USA. The snippet is entitled 'Who do you reckon it is?' and refers to the first day Huckleberry Finn was ever published - in England - on 4 December 1884.