John Francis Stanley Russell (1865 - 1931)

Born 12 Aug 1865 in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Annette (Beauchamp) Russell — married 1916 in St Martin, London, England

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Biography

John Francis Stanley Russell was born on 12th August 1865 at Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, the eldest son of Viscount Amberley and his wife Katharine, daughter of Edward John Stanley, second Baron Stanley of Alderley.^[1]

Russell was an early motorist. He is famed for having the registration A 1.

He supported his brother's pacifism during the First World War.

He married three times; twice divorced and the third permanently separated. He also had extramarital affairs.

Firstly, in 1890, to Mary Edith Scott, known as Mabel. They had separated before 1894 and divorced before 1901.

Secondly, in 1900, to Marion Cooke; a twice-divorced daughter of an Irish master-shoemaker. As the British Government did not recognise his first divorce, Lord Russell was arrested and convicted of bigamy in the House of Lords on 18th July 1901. He was sentenced to only three months in prison on account of the "extreme torture" he had suffered in his first marriage. They married once more on 31st October 1901, three days after the divorce was finalised. They divorced in 1915.

Thirdly to Australian-born, German-nobility widow, Mary Annette von Arnim nee Beauchamp, on 11th February 1916 at St Martin, London.^[2] This marriage was also a disaster and the couple separated three years later; however, they never divorced. Countess Russell is arguably best known as Elizabeth of the German Garden, best-selling novelist.

Lord Russell had no children of his own. He did have stepchildren though: three stepsons through his second marriage and five stepchildren through his final marriage.

Russell became the first peer to join the Labour Party and was Leader of the first small Labour group in the House of Lords. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport and Under-Secretary of State for India in Ramsay MacDonald's government from 1929 to 1931. He introduced the Highway Code and abolished speed limits. (MacDonald's government reintroduced speed limits after Russell's death.)

He passed away 3rd March 1931. Despite landmark achievements in other respects, this Earl Russell is most famous for being tried for bigamy in 1901, after which he was known to Edwardian society as the "Wicked Earl". He was caricatured by his last wife in her novel, Vera.

Sources

1. ↑ UK FreeBMD Birth Index Sep qtr 1865, vol 8a, page 132
2. ↑ UK FreeBMD Marriage Index Mar qtr 1916, vol 1a, page 1230

• 2nd Earl Russell.