So you're suggesting that the phrase " When Strathclyde was in Brigton" echoes a similar phrase in the spiritual "Go Down Moses"? It seems possible.

In addition to information about Alex Russell, we also lsck glosses for the many obscure terms and references in this song. Does "Strathclyde was in Brigton" mean that many Glaswegian iron workers exiled themselves to Scotland's east coast to find jobs? I live half a world away so I don't have a clue.

I also register a big WTF? for such phrases as "monkey shed"; "double pairtin' wi' a tap and drag"; "every snug was aff the box"; "close and cast"; and even "swan necked valve".

Where I'm going with my query re Russell is this: do we know any more about him than we know about J. T. Huxtable, a man who apparently left no documentable trace but who was said by A. L. Lloyd to be his source for "The Recruited Collier". I'm wondering if Huxtable and Russell were room-mates at the Home For Retired Source Singers located just up the road from Kubla Khan's Pleasure Dome on High Brasil Road in the land of Cockayne. Probably not, but it's a question worth asking.