Background
Russell was born at Geelong to grazier Philip Russell and Mary Gray, née Guthrie. He married Jess Lucy Fairbairn, daughter of Frederick Fairbairn, on 14 September 1917 at Chelsea.
Russell was born at Geelong to grazier Philip Russell and Mary Gray, née Guthrie. He married Jess Lucy Fairbairn, daughter of Frederick Fairbairn, on 14 September 1917 at Chelsea.
He travelled to England in 1912 to study engineering at Cambridge University. Russell helped to design the Black Rock west golf course (opened 1931) and supervised its construction. He also designed the eastern course, as well as courses at Karrinyup in Perth, Yarra Yarra in Melbourne, and Paraparaumu Beach, near Wellington in New Zealand.
He was briefly private secretary to Prime Minister Stanley Bruce in the early 1920s.
During World World War II Russell was deputy commissioner of the Australian Red Cross (1941-1942) before becoming chief commissioner of the field force (1943-1946), serving the Australian Imperial Force as a camp commandant in the intervening period. Mentioned in despatches, he was transferred to the Reserve of Officers in October 1943 as a lieutenant colonel.
He was appointed a knight of grace of the Order of Street John of Jerusalem in 1948 and continued his involvement with the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, serving as a councillor (1929-1955). He retired to South Yarra, and died on 22 November 1961 at Heidelberg of hypertensive heart disease.
He was cremated.