James Cholmeley Russell (26 June 1841 – 29 August 1912) was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

property developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

, and railway entrepreneur. He was a key

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

, and eventually receiver, of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company from which the

Welsh Highland Railway The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) or Rheilffordd Eryri is a long, restored narrow gauge heritage railway in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations in ...

ultimately emerged. He was a business associate of the engineer, Sir James Weeks Szlumper. Russell was involved at one time or another with various other railway schemes including the

Manchester and Milford Railway The Manchester and Milford Railway was a Welsh railway company, intended to connect Manchester and the industrial areas of Northwest England with a deep-water port on Milford Haven, giving an alternative to the Port of Liverpool. Despite the tit ...

and the Vale of Rheidol. He was an alumnus of

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

(1855–1859) and a graduate (1864) of

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

External links

Blogspot biography of James Cholmeley Russell
1841 births 1912 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford British financiers British railway entrepreneurs 19th-century British businesspeople {{Business-bio-stub