James Cholmeley Russell

Constance - Mrs Oscar Wilde and friend of Lucy Russell

2011-11-25T16:54:00.000Z

James Cholmeley Russell pops up briefly in ‘Constance: The Tragic and Scandalous Life of Mrs Oscar Wilde’ the new biography by Franny Moyle. One of his sisters – Lucy – was a college friend.

Constance and Oscar Wilde were part of a circle whose outrageous behaviour shook the foundations of nineteenth-century society.

Constance is the extraordinary account of their marriage played out under public scrutiny, which crashed and burned as only a celebrity marriage can.

Franny Moyle has radically rewriten accepted opinion about the Wildes from both a personal and a literary perspective. Drawing on Constance’s numerous unpublished letters, she uncovers key revelations about a woman who was the victim of one of the greatest betrayals of all time.

Constance: The Tragic and Scandalous Life of Mrs Oscar Wilde - published in June 2011 by John Murray

Russell's illness

2011-08-07T17:22:00.003+01:00

Mike Bishop the intrepid researcher on all things North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways/Welsh Highland Railway has found in the National Archives, Gowrie Aitchison's offer to the High Court, Chancery Division to become Receiver and General Manager of the NWNGR Company following Russell's death in 1912.
Paragraph 2 says he has been Secretary and Traffic Manager from March 1898 to September 1910, then only Secretary, "and during the illness and incapacity of the late Mr Russell which extended over 6 or 7 years I have done most of the work for him only troubling him when absolutely necessary."
So as has been suspected, Russell was ill as far back as the time when he was negotiating with North Wales Power & Traction Co. Ltd in 1906 over the electrification of the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway. See the background here

The literature on illness and its impact upon decision making is mostly focused on politicians rather than businessmen. David Owen wrote 'In Sickness and in Power' in 2008 ISBN 978-0413-776624 where he also touches on his more recent themes of how hubris gets in the way of rational thinking. An earlier book from 1993 is 'When Illness Strikes the Leader - the dilemma of the captive king' by Jerrold M Post and Robert S Robins ISBN 0-300-05683-4. This is some ways is a better and more rounded book than Owen's and he in fact makes no mention of it at all! Both books underline the role that illness has had on world events and how quite understandably wrong or misjudged decisions can be made whether you are physically and/or mentally ill.

Gowrie Aitchison's Affadavit to the Court

Russell as a military man

2011-06-29T13:19:00.002+01:00

Russell was gazetted as a Sub-Lieutenant (Supernumerary) in the 23rd Middlesex (Inns of Court) Rifle Volunteer Corps on 28th March 1877. The modern history of the Regiment begins in 1859 with the formation of the 23rd Middlesex (Inns of Court) Rifle Volunteer Corps; it became the 14th Middlesex in 1889. The Regiment was attached, in its later years, to the Rifle Brigade and also formed part of the 2nd London Volunteer Brigade and the "Grey Brigade". See more here and here

Russell heading South

2011-06-06T19:56:00.002+01:00

Russell heading South, a photo by Boxbrownie3 on Flickr.

The Hunslet built locomotive 'Russell' at Beddgelert. One wonders if the eponymous James Cholmeley Russell ever rode on or behind it in a train?

Eleanor Russell

2011-06-01T22:16:00.004+01:00

New information on Eleanor Russell (as Eleanor Broome) including her near involvement in the Anglo Zulu War in the blog section "The 1880s and beyond". See also Russell High School here

Directors - North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company

2011-05-22T18:31:00.005+01:00

The table below shows the directors of the NWNGR Company from its inception to Russell's death in 1912.

NWNGR Company Directors

Bulkeley Senior was replaced by his son at death in June 1875. He was a prominent Anglesey landowner.

Chaloner William Chute (1838-1890) was a barrister and quarry owner and also director of Moel Tryfan Rolling Stock Company. His family lived on the Vyne Estate in Hampshire

Charles Davison (1822-1908) owned a firebrick company (Ewloe Barn Brick and Tile Works) and was a prominent ship owner based at Connah's Quay, Director of Hawarden & Dist. Water Works, Halkyn District Mines Drainage Co. etc. See here for more information

Ernest Lake was a solicitor; later Chairman NWNGR Co. (following Russell)

James Szlumper ex Director Vale of Rheidol Rly, Civil Engineer to NWNGR and Vale of Rheidol

Menzies was managing director of the Alexandra Slate Company

Sir Llewelyn Turner ( 1823 - 1903 ) was prominent in the municipal life of Caernarvon , of which he was mayor on two occasions; he was knighted in 1870. He was the founder (1846) of the Royal Welsh Yacht Club so shared an interest with Russell , deputy-constable of Caernarvon castle (and served as sheriff of Caernarvonshire , 1886-7. He married in 1878 , Agnes , daughter of G. Bell .

Livingston Thompson (1810-c.1874) was an attorney in Dublin became the largest shareholder in the Festiniog Railway Company and sat on the board until 1874.

James Hewitt Oliver (1823-1902) was a lieutenant-colonel in the Dublin militia and the son of Admiral Robert Dudley Oliver and with his three brothers and a sister, inherited the Goosey Estate, Stanford in the Vale, Berkshire.

Hugh Beaver Roberts was a prominent landowner (including the Croesor Estate) and solicitor in North Wales and was closely involved with the Festiniog Railway and the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company. The Croesor Tramway, that later formed part of the Welsh Highland Railway was constructed by Roberts in the 1860s.

Abraham Fitzgibbon (1823 – 1887) a civil engineer, who became the Engineer-in-Chief of the Queensland Railway in 1865. Fitzgibbon served an apprenticeship with a leading civil engineer in Ireland, and had considerable experience in railway surveying and construction in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Ceylon, India and New Zealand. He lived at The Rookery, Stanmore, London and died aged 64 at Moorside, Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire

Sources:
Most of the above information from 'Narrow Gauge Railways in South Caernarvonshire' by James I. C. Boyd, published by Oakwood Press
Welsh Biography On Line here
History of Berkshire here
thepeerage.com
More details on Chute, Lake and Szlumper in other parts of this Blog.
Details of the others will be added as information becomes available

Russell's Steam Yachts

2011-05-14T19:37:00.000+01:00

According to Lloyd’s Yacht Register J.C. Russell owned two yachts, Gryffin and later Rona (built in 1900 by Chamber Bros, Cartsdyke, Greenock), although there is no record of him owning Madge despite the evidence of a sailor wearing a jerkin carrying the name 'Madge'. More research required!

Thanks to Mike Porter of the Scottish Maritime Museum

North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company

2011-04-24T18:34:00.000+01:00

For more information on the history of the NWNGR company with which J C Russell was so involved see the Festipedia site here

On Russell's Steam Yacht - Madge

2011-04-16T14:02:00.001+01:00

On Russell's Steam Yacht
Originally uploaded by Boxbrownie3

L to R - Miss KW - James Cholmeley Russell and his wife Eleanor. Notice the Box Cameras and of course the hats! Taken on Russell's steam yacht 'Madge' in Scotland

Russell's house - Longdene - Surrey

2011-04-16T14:01:00.001+01:00

Longdene - Surrey
Originally uploaded by Boxbrownie3

Rolls the mastiff and Margaret, Russell's daughter

Russell to steam in 2011

2010-12-19T15:55:00.000Z

The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway intends to steam Russell in 2011. Donations are being sought and every donation of £5 or more will earn an entry into the prize draw for a rare replica Russell nameplate. A donation form is available on the website.Russell website

JCR as Executor

2010-02-21T12:02:00.005Z

A search of the Great Western Railway Shareholders Register that has been made available on http://www.findmypast.co.uk/ shows that JCR acted as an executor for several relatives who were holders of GWR shares as follows.

The Reverend Robert Cholmeley, JCR's maternal grandfather died 30 August 1880 at Findon, Sussex. JCR was joint executor with Mrs Constance Mary Cholmeley. These shares had been jointly held with Anthony Adey (deceased) .

JCR's brother, Robert Bruce Russell died 18 March 1887 at Queen's Gate London.

George Buchanan McClure the brother in law of JCR's sister Charlotte died 11 July 1888. He had emigrated to Australia and is listed in the Register with addresses in Scotland and New South Wales. The other executor was GBM's twin brother, James Howe McClure (Charlotte's husband).

William Cholmeley MDST FRCP, a maternal relative of JCR's died aged 73 on 18 June 1896 with addresses in Grosvenor Street London and Notting Hill. WC was a well known doctor who rated an obituary in the British Medical Journal 4 July 1896

JCR in 1911

2010-02-20T15:11:00.004Z

At the time of the 1911 Census, Sunday 2nd April , JCR was at his home Longdene in Haslemere Surrey. An indication of his poor health and general frailty is that he was being looked after by two 'sick nurses', Harriet Annie Spooner and Hilda Scrase. JCR's secretary was Elizabeth Cater and the household was run by seven servants including a cook. Also in the house on that Sunday was Francis Napier Broome, Eleanor Russell's nephew, an Oxford undergraduate, born in Natal and who later became one of South Africa's leading judges.

Eleanor was not at home that weekend as she and her daughter Margaret were staying with Major General (Ret'd) Pelham James Maitland (63) and his wife Lucy (43), at their home 'The Stables' in Branksome Park, Bournemouth. Maitland had been the Political Resident in Aden before retiring from the army in 1904 and had had a distinguished career in the Indian Army including service in Afghanistan.

NWNGR Company - Extension Bill 1885

2010-01-01T18:48:00.004Z

The NWNG Company desperately wanted to extend its line from Dinas into Caernarvon to avoid the problems of transhipment and to give it access to the harbour. The Company promoted a Parliamentary Bill to this effect in 1885. A contemporary newspaper carries an account of the proceedings of the House of Commons Select Committee on the subject and includes the evidence of among others of James Cholmeley Russell. It was opposed by the LNWR.

Thanks to David Allan for tracking down the cutting.

More detail on the railway activities of Russell

2009-09-13T11:18:00.016+01:00

For more detail on the railway activities of James C Russell the following books are recommended.

An Illustrated History of the Welsh Highland Railway by Peter Johnson published by Oxford Publishing Co; 2nd edition 2009. A well researched and referenced history of the Welsh Highland Railway, including the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company with which J C Russell was intimately involved. The book is well illustrated but has somewhat stodgy prose. This revised edition has more material on the activities of Russell, who effectively controlled the NWNGR company, the WHR’s predecessor. But we are still in the dark as to how Russell, a London barrister became involved with an obscure railway in North Wales.

Narrow Gauge Railways In South Caernarvonshire Volume One by James I.C. Boyd published by the Oakwood Press and currently in print. It deals with the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway, Portmadoc Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway, Croesor Tramway and other related railways companies as well as The Embankment Tramway, Gorseddau Tramway, Festiniog & Blaenau Railway, Merionethshire Railway and Bettws-y-Coed & Festiniog Railway.

Narrow Gauge Railways In South Caernarvonshire Volume 2 published in 1989 and out of print deals largely with the Welsh Highland Railway from the 1920s onwards until closure with material on the attempts to rebuild it up to 1988. Johnson's book is more up to date and has more detail on the rebirth of the WHR.

James I C Boyd who died in 2009 was the doyen of writers and historians of obscure narrow gauge railways in Wales and elsewhere. His books, mostly published by Oakwood and sometimes by others including Wild Swan, were sometimes “knocked” because of his slightly pedestrian writing style and some alleged weaknesses in research. The latter may or may not be true. However he was a pioneer in writing railway histories based on original sources and his books brought the fascinating history of now not so obscure railways to a much wider public.

See Boyd's Daily Telegraph obituary at www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/4980928/JIC-Boyd.html and Patrick Keef's excellent eulogy at http://www.oakwoodpress.co.uk/james_boyd.htm - a man of many parts.

Narrow Gauge Railways in North Wales Charles E Lee Published in 1945. A good introduction to the subject. Copies can still be found and the Welsh Highland/North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways section was re-published in the 1960s by the Welsh Highland Railway Society/Company in association with David & Charles with additional photographs. It has been alleged that Lee managed to write this book without ever going to North Wales!

The Manchester and Milford Railway by John Holden published by The Oakwood Press in 2007 in their Oxford Library of Railway History series. This is a second, revised edition of an authoritative work first published in 1979. Holden presents his material in a pleasant, readable style. Early history of proposals for rail routes through the challenging topography of the Cambrian mountains is fascinating. He goes on to describe the construction and financial difficulties of the railway, and its operation. The route, stations, locomotives and rolling stack are well illustrated with maps, diagrams and many interesting photographs.

JCR in 1891 in Broadstairs, Kent

2009-08-03T21:23:00.003+01:00

JCR and his sister Lucy Russell were in Broadstairs at the time of the 1891 Census and staying with Bethia Thedens in this house in Prospect Place. Bethia was "living on her means" - another wealthy friend of JCR!

Where JCR was married

2009-08-01T19:56:00.003+01:00

JCR married Eleanor Catherine Broome at Widcombe parish church, Somerset on April 26th 1893. Widcombe is on the south-eastern fringes of Bath city centre, a few minutes walk via the footbridge across the River Avon from the railway station, or along the riverside path from the Recreation Ground.

James Cholmeley Russell's Father

2009-08-01T18:13:00.002+01:00

RUSSELL, JAMES (1790-1861), law reporter, born in 1790, was the eldest son of James Russell, esq., of Stirling. After graduating with distinction at Glasgow University, he was called to the English bar from the Inner Temple in June 1822. Having been introduced by Henry Lascelles, second earl of Harewood, to Lord Eldon, he was appointed in the following year a reporter in the courts of the Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls. In 1824 he became sole authorised reporter. He gradually acquired a large chancery and bankruptcy practice, and took silk in 1841. He had ceased reporting in 1834. He ultimately became leader of Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce's court, but overwork destroyed his eyesight, and for some years before his death he was blind. He was on four occa- sions asked to become a candidate for parlia- ment, but declined each invitation. While not a brilliant pleader, Russell held a high position at the bar, owing to his learning and acuteness.

Besides contributing to the ' Quarterly Review,' Russell, together with his younger brother, John Russell (see below) of the Scots bar, was for some years editor of the ' Annual Register.' James Russell died at Roxeth House, near Harrow, on 6 Jan. 1861, and was buried at Kensal Green. He married, in April 1839, Maria, eldest daughter of the Rev. Robert Cholmeley, Rector of Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, by whom he had issue three sons and five daughters.

Russell published : 1. 'Reports in Chancery,' 1826-8, 4 vols. 8vo, and 2 parts, vol. v. 1827-30. 2. With George J. Turner, ' Reports in Chancery, 1822-4,' 1832. 3. With James W. Mylne, ' Reports in Chancery, 1829-31, with particular cases in 1832-3,'

Source: Dictionary of National Biography volume 49

Asking the Court for money for the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company

2009-07-20T20:40:00.015+01:00

Evidence that the problems of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company were troubling James C Russell even a year before his death, in this sworn affadavit to the Chancery divison of the High Court. Dated 31st May 1911 it asks the Court permission to release money held by the Court to pay for running expenses and to pay debenture interest. At the end he drops in that there are negotiations taking place to transfer the line to the London & North Western Railway which ultimately proved to be a pipe dream. Most of this is in copper plate script by one assumes a solictor's clerk but JCR has added a line in his own wavering hand writing at the end, perhaps demonstrating his fraility by this time.

Many thanks to Michael Bishop for unearthing this document and for others including Russell (as Receiver) asking the Court to let him spend up to £250 on building the Stationmaster's House at Dinas in 1899, funded by Debentures which were never raised and another in 1914 by his successor Gowrie Aitchison detailing quotes for engine repairs for "Russell" and "Gowrie" funded from Monies in Court.

James Chomeley Russell's Funeral Report

2009-07-14T20:33:00.007+01:00

The report on JCR's funeral from The Farnham, Haslemere & Hindhead Herald for September 7th 1912 is shown in these two pictures.

Ernest E Lake

2009-07-12T21:47:00.006+01:00

Ernest E Lake (1844 -1917) was a friend of JCR, his solicitor and an executor of his will.

He was born at Highgate, Middlesex, on the 2 March 1844. His father Henry was a partner in the family law firm, Tucker Lake & Lyon of 4 New Court, Lincoln's Inn which Ernest subsequently joined. Ernest had six brothers and two sisters and one of them, Edward became the first managing director of the Greene King Brewery of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. His mother, Mary Lake née Greene was one of thirteen children and a brother Benjamin Buck Greene was a Governor of the Bank of England from 1873 to 1875. Mary was a relative of the novelist Graham Greene.

Lake was one of the original shareholders in The Moel Tryfan Rolling Stock Company Limited set up in 1878, that leased "the Locomotives, Engines, Carriages, Wagons, Trucks and Rolling Stock..." to the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company. Lake later became a director of the NWNR Co.

Ernest married Mary Frances Dyne (1848 - 1903) in 1872 but there were no children of the marriage.

He was Mayor of Hampstead in 1908 and laid the foundation stone for Hampstead Hill School on Pond Street formerly the old church and community halls. See Ed Fordham's blog of 12 July 2009 at http://474towin.blogspot.com/

Ernest died in Hampstead on 28 September 1917

For more information on the Lake and Greene family see an excellent family history site at http://www.dentongenes.com/

Friends of James Cholmeley Russell

2009-07-07T21:35:00.007+01:00

In his will of 1897 JCR made bequests of £20 each (around £1700 at 2008 prices using the RPI measure) to some of his friends. They included the 'great and the good' of the time:

John Heywood Johnstone was MP for Horsham (1893-1904) and lived at Bignor Park, Sussex and also at Trewithen, Cornwall, famous its gardens. He was usually known by his middle name of Heywood.1 He was a Justice of the Peace was a Deputy Lieutenant John Heywood Johnstone's son George Horace Johnstone (1882 -1960) took over Trewithen on his father's death heralding Trewithen's Golden Age of Gardening.

Sir Edward Fry GCB, GCMG, FRS (1827-1918), was a judge in the Court of Appeal (1883-1892) and also an arbitrator on the International Permanent Court of Arbitration. He was a Quaker, son of Joseph Fry (1795-1879) and Mary Ann Swaine.

He was called to the bar in 1854, took silk in 1869 and became a judge in Chancery in 1877 and was raised to the Court of Appeal in 1877 retiring in 1892.

In 1897 he accepted an offer to preside over the Royal Commission on the Irish Land Acts. He also acted as an arbitrator in the Welsh coal strike (1898), the Grimsby fishery dispute (1901) and between the London and North Western Railway Company and its employees (1906, 1907).

He was also involved in international law including acting as the British legal assessor on the commission to investigate the Dogger Bank incident where the Russian navy accidentally attacked a British herring fleet in the North Sea.

Besides law he was on the Council of University College London and was interested in Zoology (elected to the Royal Society in 1883).He wrote two books on bryophytes, British Mosses (1892) and, with his daughter Agnes, The Liverworts: British and Foreign (1911). Sir Edward lived at Failand House just outside Bristol.

Sir Fleetwood Isham Edwards (1842-1910) was educated at Harrow School and went to Sandhurst in 1861. He received a commission in the Royal Engineers in 1863. In the 1870s he was Inspector of Works at Woolwich Arsenal, then aide-de-camp to General Sir John Lintorn Simmons, inspector-general of fortifications. Following his contributions to the Berlin Congress, in 1878, he was appointed Assistant Privy Purse and Assistant Private Secretary to Queen Victoria. He later became head of the Queen's personal household, a privy councillor, and a close personal advisor. He was an executor of her will in 1901.

He was a member of the M.C.C. from 1870, and at Harrow, just failed to get into the Eleven. In his time he made some scores for the Royal Engineers, and in 1865 began to play for Gentlemen of Kent.

Aubrey St John Clerke, (1843-1923), had a brilliant career as a scholar and medallist in mathematics and science at Trinity College, Dublin and later became a Chancery barrister in London. Amon other books, he wrote The law and practice under the Settled land acts, 1882-1890. With the statutes and the rules and forms issued under the Settled land act, 1882

Ernest E Lake (1844 -1917)
See next post

James Russell's siblings

2009-07-05T15:23:00.012+01:00

Maria Russell - born 1841 - married in 1874 - Arthur Charles Humphreys-Owen (9 November 1836 – 9 December 1905) Welsh barrister, landowner and Liberal politician. See the Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Humphreys-Owen
Frances Penelope Russell - born 1843
Robert Bruce Russell - born 1845 in Walmer Kent - Oxford graduate - Magdalen College - became a barrister - died 1887 - co-edited with JCR The Rights And Liabilities Of Husband and Wife by John Fraser Macqueen on the law of marriage
Charlotte Russell - (1846 - 1875) married James Howe McClure (lawyer) and moved to Scotland - their son (born 1875) Major Charles Russell McClure died on 21st October 1914 after being wounded under heavy close fire at Le Bizet. He was 39. See more at the University of Glasgow Roll of Honour site http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/honour/biog.php?bid=174
Lucy Jane Russell - born 1848 - married Rev. John Pincher Faunthorpe, Vice-Principal of Whitelands College (Battersea Training College) in 1901 after the death of his first wife, Charlotte. Lucy died on 18 Aug 1917 in Elmfield House, Bromley, Kent
John Montague Russell - born 1850 - graduated from Oxford (Magdalen College) in 1870
Jessie Russell - born 1854

Based on Census data and various other sources including
David Naylor, Ontario, Canada

Another Russell home in Scotland

2009-05-26T20:33:00.004+01:00

Before buying from the late Mr Carmichael, Loch Leven Creagmhor (see below), JCR took a three year lease on Allt-nan-ros at Onich, 11 miles south of Fort William and 2 miles north of Ballaculish Bridge. It's a beautiful Victorian Villa by Loch Linnhe with spectacular views to the Morvern Hills and beyond and is now hotel. Click the picture title to go to the hotel's website

Source: Oban Times and Mike Bishop and Neil F King on Flickr for the picture

Russell and Wilson Saunders the botanist

2009-04-02T22:00:00.005+01:00

William Wilson Saunders

JCR had it seems an interest in botany. He arranged for the Herbarium of some 20,000 specimens which belonged to Mr. Wilson Saunders to be presented to Oxford University on Saunders' death. William Wilson Saunders FRSA 1809-79 was an underwriter at Lloyds of London, which is probably how Russell came to know him and was primarily an entomologist as well as a botanist. He was president of the Entomological Society on two occasions, 1841-1842 and 1856-1857.
See also Wikipedia entry here

Russell's home in Scotland

2009-02-22T10:57:00.017Z

Russell's Scottish house is now a charming family run Lochside Hotel called Creagmhor Lodge. Picture shows JCR with Blackie, "the dog that owned its master". Click the post title above for the hotel link

Russell in the 1990s

2008-09-27T12:02:00.001+01:00

Russell in the 1990s
Originally uploaded by Boxbrownie3

JCR lives on as Russell, the 1906 Hunslet built locomotive, originally ordered for the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway. Shown here in the 1990s at Porthmadog with the late and much missed Cliff Jones driving. Russell is currently undergoing a very major overhaul at the works of the Welsh Highland Railway Ltd

JCR and his property interests

2008-09-13T10:02:00.000+01:00

At one time JCR owned The Duke of York public house, Boxalls Lane, Aldershot. This must have been in the 1900s as he was living at Longdene, Haslemere, at the time.

Russell's household in 1881 at Queen's Gate, London

2008-09-06T10:32:00.004+01:00

At the time of the census in 1881 Russell was unmarried and living at 86 Queens Gate, London. The house was occupied as follows:

James C. Russell - Barrister At Law In Practice
Francis Penelope Russell - Sister
Lucy Janet Russell - Sister
Jessie Russell - Sister
Elizabeth Beer - Servant - Cook - from Tiverton, Devon, England
Elizabeth Dyer - Servant - Nursemaid - from Taffent, Wiltshire
Catherine Wilson - Under Servant - from Yerdham, Essex, England
Charles Walker - Servant - from - Peters Hereford

Russell with 'the dog who owned his master' on his yacht

2008-09-06T10:30:00.001+01:00

Russell with 'the dog who owned his master' on his yacht
Originally uploaded by Boxbrownie3

Towards the latter part of Russell's life he spent a lot of his time in Scotland at his house at Creag Mhor, Onich, which is now a hotel. He was a member of the Royal Highland Yacht Club and had a steam yacht with the rather prosaic name of "Madge". The picture shows Russell with Blackie a mongrel who features in several photographs with JCR

Russell as expert on family law

2008-09-06T10:21:00.006+01:00

Russell was the editor with Robert Bruce Russell, one of his brothers, of several editions of a classic of family law "The Rights and Liabilities of Husband And Wife" originally written by John Fraser Macqueen (1803-1881).

Russell at Beddgelert

2008-08-31T13:47:00.001+01:00

Russell at Beddgelert
Originally uploaded by Boxbrownie3

The Hunslet built locomotive named after James Cholmeley Russell, at Beddgelert sometime in the 1920s. Currently being re-built by the Welsh Highland Railway at Portmadog.

The Final Years

2008-08-31T13:01:00.007+01:00

At some time in the mid 1890s, Russell acquired Creag Mhor at Onich, near Fort William, Invernesshire, a substantial country house, on the North side of the entrance to Loch Leven,. This had originally been built in 1890 for the wife of the Episcopalian Bishop of Argyll. Family photographs show Russell, his family and friends relaxing in the grounds. Creag Mhor is a hotel. It was at Onich that he kept his steam yacht "Madge"

JCR seems to have been a pioneer motorist, as two of the family "snap shots" show a large open car, of a make not identified, perilously balanced on planks on the Ballachulish ferry.

Russell's human side is revealed in the family photographs. In one photograph, his wife Eleanor and daughter Margaret, are shown playing with Rolls, a very large mastiff, next to the summer house at Longdene in the 1900s. Another photograph shows a balding Russell with a moustache but no beard, at the breakfast table of Woodlands the house at Merrow, with Toddles the cat draped round one shoulder. But his real companion seems to have been a short legged mongrel terrier Mr Blackie. He features in several photographs, including one with Russell on his steam yacht, with the caption "The dog who owned his master". Mr Blackie also appears in another family picture with JCR at Onich. and a rather grizzled Mr Blackie is shown lying next to Russell, in his bath chair, in 1911, presumably at Longdene.

From 1900 onwards, Russell was winding down and the family photographs show a bearded and rather impressive looking man enjoying the fruits of his prolific life, with family and friends at Onich, where he spent a considerable amount of his time. During this time, Russell suffered a near fatal illness, and in a codicil to his will he made a number of bequests to the nurses who saw him through this traumatic period of his life.

On the 29th August 1912, Russell died of a stroke at Longdene aged 71. He remained Receiver of the NWNGR until a few months before he died. At the time he was chairman of the Barking Gas Company.

The funeral was a rather grand affair, and was fully reported in the Farnham, Haslemere and Hindhead Herald of September 7, 1912. "The funeral party left Haslemere at half past one, a special coach being attached to the ordinary train and the carriage in which the coffin was conveyed was very tastefully draped with purple hangings..."

A perusal of a contemporary Bradshaw, shows that the train was the 1.28 pm from Petersfield, arriving at Guildford at 1.58pm and going forward to Waterloo.

Many family members were present together with friends and representatives of the people Russell had met through his business dealings and socially as well as the indoor and outdoor staff from Longdene. The coffin was carried by "Mr Russell's own men" including the captain and engineer of his yacht. See later post for full report.
Russell is buried in the church yard of St. John the Evangelist, Merrow, next to his mother in law, Catherine Elizabeth Broome.

At probate, Russell's estate was valued at £166,000, which in 2004 terms would be worth in excess of £11 million.

Russell's widow Eleanor, continued to live at Longdene until sometime in 1913. She died in 1932 at the Tower House, Bletchingley, Surrey. The house had previously been owned by Hon Henry Allen Rolls, second son of the 1st Lord Llangattock, and elder brother of the Hon. Charles Rolls of Rolls Royce fame. Rolls died on 26 June 1916 at age 44 at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. It's interesting to note that Russell's mastiff at Longdene was called Rolls.

The Tower House Bletchingley
copyright

Magdi51 (www.panoramio.com/photo/42956631)

According to a Welsh Highland Railway Company return of the time, Eleanor held 965 £1 ordinary Welsh Highland shares. These almost certainly arose from the Russell family holdings in the NWNGR and the exchange of shares when the WHR absorbed that company in 1922. The estate at probate was valued at £7,368. In today's money this would be worth some £300,000. It is not all clear what happened to James Chomeley Russell's wealth in the twenty years following his death. His widow seems to have bequeathed most of her estate to her nieces rather than her daughter Margaret.

Russell’s lasting memorial is of course the locomotive that carries his name. Ironically this was not ordered by the NWNGR, but by Gowrie Aitchison of the PB&SSR who followed Russell as Receiver to the NWNGR, and who, incidentally, also had a locomotive, ‘Gowrie’, named after him. By 1906 there was close liaison between the NWNGR with its ageing locomotives, and the PB&SSR, which had no railway, but plenty of trackbed. So in May 1906, ‘Russell’ was delivered from Hunslet's to the NWNGR at Dinas.

I wrote the original article on JCR with the research help of Dewi Thomas in 1996. It was published in the FR Heritage Journal of Winter 1996/97. At the end of 2003, prompted by the researches of Michael Bishop and John Keylock, I re-opened my files and through a piece of serendipity finally managed to track down the surviving granddaughter of JCR, Evelyn Pangman, who now lives in Canada. We are indebted to her for the loan of the family photographs of JCR. Thanks must also go to David Allan who has done a magnificent job of copying Evelyn Pangman's photographs including the wonderful hand coloured vignette reproduced on the front page of the last WHRH Journal.

Together with these photographs, Evelyn's family anecdotes, the efforts of Michael Bishop in the National Archives and elsewhere and the encouragement and contributions of John Keylock, we have for the first time a more rounded view of Russell the man and his business dealings. Quite why and how Russell ever became involved with a slightly obscure Welsh railway may never be known, but he was clearly a man of some business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit. His legacy continues nearly 100 years after his death. The story is of course not yet complete and subsequent posts will cover some of the detail of his life.

The 1880s and beyond

2008-08-30T14:42:00.009+01:00

By the 1880s Russell, was a man of some substance but unmarried. He had effective control of two railways that would eventually be connected to form the WHR, the NWNGR and the Croesor and Portmadoc Railway. Russell's many activities continued to prosper during the 1890s and at the time of his marriage on April 26th 1893, to Eleanor Catherine Broome he was able to make a marriage settlement on his bride. Eleanor was 37 and the daughter of the late Rev Frederick Broome, formerly rector of Kenley, Shropshire and Catherine Elizabeth Broome (née Napier).

Eleanor had trained as a teacher at Chichester Training College and later became headmistress of an Elementary Girls’ School in Cambridge. In January 1879 she had taken up a post at the Government Model Primary School for Girls in Natal, South Africa, arriving in Port Elizabeth at the height of the Anglo Zulu War. However, by March 6, 1879 she “had successfully opened the school in the west room of the High School Building”, in what is now known as the Boys’ Model School - Russell High School. Her brother Sir Fredrick Napier Broome was colonial secretary of Mauritius and Natal at the time and "his prompt action in the Isandula affair, by dispatching almost the whole of his garrison to aid Lord Chelmsford, helped to avert a disaster at a critical time in the Zulu War."

A Souvenir Edition of the school magazine reported that "The success of the first government school for girls in Natal must be attributed to Miss Broome......she stuck to it for 14 years though at times not far from a break down.......At the end of 1892 when she left, the staff and pupils.......presented her with a purse of 24 sovereigns. The story of Miss Broome ends with the happy finality common to fairy tales - her nephew, Justice Broome writes, "Eleanor....married a wealthy Barrister and lived to a good old age. Curiously, her husband's surname was Russell."

Russell apparently met Eleanor either in South Africa or on a ship back from there following her successful setting up of the Girls' School.
The wedding ceremony was at Widcombe parish church in Bath and conducted by the Reverend Canon C H Cholmeley, rector of Beaconsfield church from 1885 until his death in 1895. Russell thus continued the tradition of being married by a cleric from his mother's side of the family. Their only child was a daughter, Margaret, born in 1894. In 1919, Margaret married Sydney Gordon Saunders and they had two daughters, Elizabeth, born in 1922, who never married and died at Oxted in Surrey in the 1990s and Evelyn, born in 1926, who married a Mr Pangman and now lives in Canada.

Russell lived in a number of different houses during his life. By the time of the 1881 Census, he was living at 86, Queens Gate, London. The Census for that year lists him as head of the household and sharing the house with three of his sisters, Francis Penelope (38) who was married and two unmarried sisters Lucy Janet (33) and Jessie (27). Befitting his status he had a living-in staff of a cook, underservant and manservant. There was also a nursemaid, quite why is unclear as no children are listed. It's assumed the married sister was visiting at the time of the Census. In 1897, when Russell made his will, he was living at 10 Astwood Road London. By the time of 1901 Census, Russell aged 60 remained active in business and the Census describes him as ‘Barrister at Law and Railway Manager’ and living at The Woodlands, Merrow near Guildford. At the time of the Census apart from his wife Eleanor and daughter Margaret, he also had his mother in law, Catherine Broome living with him. The house was run with eight servants including a gardner who lived in the adjacent Gardener's Cottage. He is also listed as living here in the 1903 Directory of Directors.

Russell was involved in property development and the will, refers to the development of the Aldershot Lodge Estate and other property in the area, including the Manor Estates. At the time of the first codicil to the will in 1906 he had moved and was living at ‘Longdene’, Haslemere, Surrey, The house still exists and is used as offices. The family photographs show a substantial property in extensive grounds. Haslemere was once described as the ‘Switzerland of England’ attracting the ‘wealthy and exotic of the time’.

Longdene House Haslemere in the 1900s

Longdene House Haslemere today

More on JCR

2008-08-29T20:00:00.001+01:00

James Russell followed his father into the legal profession and he was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1867. He practiced at the Chancery Bar and was for several years an Examiner at the High Court. An Examiner examined on oath, the witnesses of both parties involved in civil proceedings. The annual law lists for the period show him to have practised from various chambers in Lincoln's Inn, including 23 Old Buildings, as an equity draftsman and conveyancer. A Chambers' address of 14 Old Square is last given in the annual law lists for 1899, indicating a possible date of retirement from the law.

Russell had three elements to his career, law, property development and railways, with law being the corner stone.

The precise details of Russell's career following his call to the bar in 1867 are currently not known, but by November 1876 he was involved with hiring locomotives to the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company. These were the single Fairlies "Snowdon Ranger" and "Moel Tryfan" and the Hunslet engine "Beddgelert". He also financed certain coaches and wagons including ‘three passenger carriages, numbered respectively 6,7 & 8, and the four coal wagons numbered 9.10.11 & 12. From an 1883 accident report, we know that coach number 6 was a Gloucester built Cleminson 6 wheeler and we can surmise that numbers 7 and 8 were of the same design.

The arrangements regarding the ownership of this rolling stock, shed some light on the entrepreneurial aspect of Russell's personality that is also reflected in his property dealings, of which more later.

On the 3rd December 1878, The Moel Tryfan Rolling Stock Company Limited was incorporated "to purchase or otherwise acquire the Locomotives, Engines, Carriages, Wagons, Trucks and Rolling Stock now in use by the N.W.N.G.Railways Co...". The capital was £10,000 and the shareholders included Russell and Ernest E Lake, a solicitor. Lake was a friend of Russell's and later an executor of his estate. The shareholders also included two other barristers in addition to Russell. The directors were Chaloner W Chute a director of the NWNGR and also a shareholder in the MTRSC Ltd, Lake and Russell himself.

In an agreement dated 7th December 1878, Russell sold the rolling stock he had hired out, to the MTRSC for £3,630, of which £3,000 was in shares and the balance of £630 cash, but with an option to take shares instead. Russell also assigned to the company a judgement debt for £882 and costs which had been obtained by him against the NWNGR.. With the NWNGR unable to pay the debt, Russell was appointed the Receiver.

The agreement stated that all the items of equipment listed "are marked with the plate of the vendor affixed thereon and are in the possession of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company and in use by them (except as to the engine "Beddgelert") under a certain lease and agreements for hire dated respectively the Eighteenth day of November 1876, the twenty seventh day of April 1878 and the eighteenth day of October 1878". Thus the agreement is slightly ambiguous on the question of whether the locomotive, Beddgelert was actually on the railway at the time of the agreement. We know that the locomotive had been "sent away" from the builders, the Hunslet Engine Company, from their works at Leeds some four months earlier in July 1878.

From the date of the agreement until 1880 the NWNGR hired their rolling stock from the MTRSC. They then bought them and paid the outstanding hire fee by the issue of £6,000 of Debentures.. On 31st July 1889 the MTRSC filed a company return showing a final redemption of shares that stated "...the supply of rolling stock to a small railway company paid for by installments...was fulfilled" .The company was dissolved in 1894.

Russell, as a mortgagee, also had effective control of the Croesor and Portmadoc Railway and was involved with other railway schemes. He became manager of the Manchester and Milford Railway in 1880. This grandiose scheme never got beyond a standard gauge line between Strata Florida and Pencader in Mid Wales, forming part of the Carmarthen and Cardigan line. He remained linked with the Manchester and Milford until resigning in 1899. It was through the M & M that he came into contact with James Weeks Szlumper.

Szlumper was appointed Engineer to the NWNGR in the summer of 1891, replacing R H Livesey, who had gone to the Finn Valley Railway in County Donegal. Gowrie Aitchison subsequently took over from Szlumper in March 1898.

Both Russell and Szlumper became promoters of a Vale of Rheidol Light Railway scheme. This particular initiative failed to materialise and Russell resigned from the project in 1899, by which time he was 58. The Vale of Rheidol Railway eventually opened in 1902 and is still operating. Szlumper, was knighted in 1894 and became a director of the NWNGR in 1905. He remained active in many railway activities including the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway, until his death in 1926.

James Szlumper (with beard) centre in picture

James Cholmeley Russell 1841 – 1912

2008-08-27T20:53:00.001+01:00

Longdene House Haslemere Surrey

Curiously, Longdene House at Haslemere in Surrey, now used as offices, has a connection with the Welsh Highland Railway in North Wales that is now partially re-opened. A locomotive from the railway, called 'Russell' is named after James Cholmeley Russell, who used to live at Longdene, and who was intimately involved in one of the precursors of the Welsh Highland, the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company.

James Cholmeley Russell was the eldest son of James Russell QC. (1790 – 1861), and Maria, the daughter of the Reverend Robert Cholmeley. He was born at 40 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London on 26th June 1841, some two years after his parent's marriage and christened James Cholmeley, thus perpetuating his mother’s maiden name. His parents later had two further sons and five daughters. James Russell senior had a large chancery and bankruptcy practice and this may give a clue to his eldest son's future activities.

In Easter 1855, at the age of 13, James Cholmeley Russell was sent to Harrow School leaving in Christmas 1859 and going up to Magdalene College, Oxford as a Commoner. Here he remained until June 1864, graduating with a BA, 3rd class Moderations and 2nd class in Law and Modern History. During his time at Magdalene, Russell was a keen rifle shooter, and his grand daughter, Evelyn Pangman still has a number of pewter mugs awarded as prizes in shooting competitions.