William Ralston Shedden-Ralston
Person Male Born 4/4/1828 Died 6/8/1889
Born York Terrace, Regent’s Park. His strange name seems to be the result of his father's near-illegitimacy and subsequent extensive litigation. Librarian, folklorist and Russian scholar. He graduated as a lawyer but never practiced. He joined the department of printed books at the British Museum in 1853. Self- taught in Russian he translated and promoted the works of Turgenev. He succumbed to depression in later life and spoke of committing suicide. He was found at his home, 11 North Crescent . . . Dead with a rubberised sheet over his head and a bottle of chloroform in his hand, but the coroner returned a verdict of misadventure.
