Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : Brevet Colonel

Unit : 13th (Labour) Bn

Biography :

Educated at Eton and New College (Oxford), Oliver Russell succeeded as 2nd Baron Ampthill at the age of 15 on the death of his father. He was British peer, rower and administrator who served as the Governor of Madras and acted as the Viceroy of India in the first years of the 20th Century.
Russell served as the Assistant Private Secretary to the Colonial Secretary 1895-97 and then Private Secretary from 1897-1900. That last position never became permanent, as he found himself increasingly allied with Indian nationals both in South and East Africa as well as their native country, and at odds with the British Government. Aged 31, Russell became the youngest-ever to be appointed Governor of Madras and served from 1900-06; he also served as the Viceroy of India April-December 1904. His tenure at Madras was almost contemporaneous with that of George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, as Viceroy of India. He was appointed a Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (G.C.I.E.) on 28.12.1900, and appointed a Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India (G.C.S.I.) on 2.9.1904.
On returning to England in 1906, Russell took up the cause of Indians in South Africa. He chaired an advisory committee on Indian students in the UK but disagreed with the Secretary of State for India on the issue of constitutional reforms. On 10.10.1906 he was appointed Major in 3rd Bn The Bedfordshire Regiment (3rd Bedfs). On 14.1.1908 he was appointed Chairman of the Bedfordshire Territorial Force Association, and on 21.6.1908 he was promoted Lt Col in command of 3rd Bedfs, a post he held in England on Home Service until 1916. On 13.7.1909 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Bedfordshire.
In the First World War he went to France, where he commanded 13th (Labour) Bn The Leicestershire Regt from 9.11.1916 in the Third Army, was attached to 1st Bn The Wiltshire Regiment in Feb and Mar 1917, and commanded 8th (Service) Bn Bedfs Regt from 3.4.1917. From 19.5.1917-18.5.1918 in the rank of Colonel (and ranking as AQMG) he was Indian Labour Advisor at GHQ France, for which work he was awarded the second of two Mention in Despatches (L.G 11.12.1917 and 20.12.1918). From 11.6.1918-13.1.1919 he was CO of 3rd Bedfs at Felixstowe. He was promoted Brevet Colonel on 3.6.1919, and finally left the Army Reserve in 1926.
Russell was one of the co-founders of the National Party in 1917. He was President of the Magic Circle 1931-35.
Russell started rowing at Eton, and was Captain of the Boats in 1887 and 1888. Whilst at university he rowed for Oxford three times against Cambridge in the Boat Race (1889-91), winning twice. He was president of both OUBC and the Oxford Union in 1891. After Oxford, he rowed for Leander Club for a short while (in 1891 he was in the crew which won the Grand Challenge Cup), then moved to London Rowing Club, becoming club president in 1893, a position he held for almost 40 years. He was a Steward of Henley Royal Regatta from 1896-1900 and 1910-27. Between 1894 and 1898, Russell was a member of the original International Olympic Committee.
Russell had deep involvement with the Freemasons. He was initiated into the Apollo University Lodge, No. 357, Oxford, in 1890. He went on to fill the chief office in several lodges, including the Bard of Avon Lodge, No. 778, Hampton Court; The Royal Alpha Lodge, No. 16, London; and the Grand Master's Lodge, No. 1. He was made Provincial Grand Master of Bedfordshire in 1900 and was District Grand Master of Madras from 1901 to 1906. He served as Pro Grand Master of England from 1908 to his death in 1935. A masonic Lodge under his name 'Lodge Ampthill No. 3682' is functioning in Coimbatore, India, under United Grand Lodge of England and District Grand Lodge of Madras. It celebrated its centenary year in 2014.
Russell died of pneumonia in 1935, aged 66 years.
More detail can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Russell,_2nd_Baron_Ampthill

Date of Birth : 19.2.1869

Place of Birth : Rome, Italy

Date of Death : 17.7.1935

Civil Occupation : administrator

Period of Service : 1906-1919

Conflicts : WW1

Places Served : France