Frank Russell, 2nd Earl Russell
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John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell known as Frank Russell, (12 August 1865 – 3 March 1931) was Bertrand Russell's elder brother and grandson of former prime minister, John Russell, 1st Earl Russell. He was married three times, including to Elizabeth von Arnim, who caricatured him in her novels.
His first wife was Mary Edith Scott, who married him in 1890, tried to divorce him (and lost) in 1891, and sued for restoration of conjugal rights in 1894. He requested a judicial separation in 1895, but she appealed and it was overturned.
Russell married Marion Cooke Somerville, his second wife, in the United States in 1900 and was convicted of bigamy in the House of Lords on 18 July 1901. He was sentenced to only three months in prison, on account of the "extreme torture" he had suffered in his first marriage. The first Countess Russell had already obtained a divorce, and he married Mrs Somerville on 31 October 1901, three days after it became absolute.
His second wife divorced him in 1915, and he married Elizabeth von Arnim the next year. They separated in 1919.
Russell was the first peer to join the Labour Party and was Labour's Leader in the House of Lords. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport and Under-Secretary of State for India in Ramsay MacDonald's government. He supported his brother's pacifism, and was a close friend of George Santayana.
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by Drummond Shiels |
Under-Secretary of State for India 1929–1931 |
Succeeded by Lord Snell |
Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
Preceded by John Russell |
Earl Russell 1878–1931 |
Succeeded by Bertrand Russell |
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