Johnson Newman, who has not been previously named in these pages, was a devoted servant of Russia during a career spanning some fifty years, beginning in 1755 in the reign of Elizabeth and ending early in the reign of Alexander I. Initially an ‘informator in the English language’ at the Naval Cadet Corps, he moved to the College of Foreign Affairs as a translator, but in the 1770s he was to be found at the Russian embassy in London. He subsequently served in Lisbon, before returning to England in 1785 to take up the newly created post of Russian consul at Hull. He is an interesting figure not least because of his largely unsung efforts to be useful ‘tant à la Russie qu'à ma Patrie’ by the translation of literary and historical works. His own command of languages, specifically English, French and Russian, led him to recognise that ignorance of foreign languages formed a huge barrier between nations and that British ignorance of Russian was a particularly depressing example. He wrote in 1789:

Newman was essentially correct in highlighting the problem and indeed, he took steps to alleviate it.