Russell Ellice (6 June 1799 – 15 September 1873) was a British businessman who was Chairman of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and one of the first Directors of the

British American Land Company The British American Land Company (BALC) was a company formed in 1832 for the purpose of purchasing land and encouraging British immigration to Lower Canada. It was founded and promoted by John Galt, Edward Ellice and others to acquire and manag ...

. Ellice was also a Director of the first

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

The Rosanna Settlers, by Hilda McDonnell: "The New Zealand Company of 182

/ref> and also the second

The Streets of my city, Wellington New Zealand, by F. L. Irvine-Smith. (1948)

/ref> Ellice was also a Governor of North American Colonial Association of Ireland and subsequently Chairman.The Royal kalendar, and court and city register for England, Scotland .

/ref>

Personal life

Russell Ellice was born in 1799 in

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, the fifth son of Scottish parents Alexander Ellice and Ann Russell. He was baptised 2 July 1799 at St Mary's Church in

Bathwick Bathwick is an electoral ward in the City of Bath, England, on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the historic city centre. Bathwick was part of the hundred of Bath Forum. The district became part of the Bath urban area with the 18th cent ...

. He was one of 10 children; He was the younger brother of merchant Edward Ellice. Russell Ellice lived at Brickendonbury Manor in Hertfordshire, where he died on 15 September 1873.''What a Liberty!: A History of Brickendon and Its Environs Including Wormley'' ... By Graham R. Irwi

/ref> Ellice was married to Harriet Chaplin on 21 July 1826 in London. Harriet died in Hertfordshire in 1882.

Career

In 1825 Ellice was a director of the

, a venture chaired by the wealthy John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, John George Lambton, Whig MP (and later 1st

Earl of Durham Earl of Durham is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1833 for the Whig politician and colonial official John Lambton, 1st Baron Durham. Known as "Radical Jack", he played a leading role in the passing of the Gre ...

), that made the first attempt to colonise New Zealand. Edward Ellice was also on the board. In 1832 Ellice, together with Nathaniel Gould, was responsible for the largest land deal in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

, when the British Government sold, for £110,321, over one million acres in the Eastern Townships to the British American Land Company, of which Ellice was a director. Edward Ellice was one of the promoters of the company. Ellice was involved with the British Bank of North America and attended their second meeting of directors. Ellice was also Chairman of Cooper opper?Mines of Combe Association. In 1831, Ellice was elected a director to the Court of the East India Company and in 1854 was elected Chairman. In a number of the schemes which Russell Ellice had an interest in, Edward Ellice's name featured also. Russell Ellice was a Director of the first

and also the second

. In the latter company Edward Ellice is also a Director, as is

Edward Gibbon Wakefield Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a member of parliament). He also had significant interests in Britis ...

. Ellice was also a Governor of the North American Colonial Association of Ireland and subsequently its Chairman.

was also a director of this organisation, to which Edward Ellice sold the Seigneury of Beauharnois. The latter subsequently had to buy back the land in order to save his investment. The two Ellice brothers had commercial control at different times, of a significant amount of the world. Russell Ellice as Chairman of the East India Company, was responsible for nearly a fifth of the world's population covering approximately a million square miles of the Indian sub-continent. The British American Land Company, of which he was a Director, had in excess of a million acres of land, whilst Edward Ellice, Lower Canada's largest absentee landowner, was also a Director of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

, which owned over three million square miles of North America.Page 338, ''The Hudson's Bay Company as an imperial factor, 1821-1869'' By John S. Galbraithbr>
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellice, Russell 1799 births 1873 deaths People from Bath, Somerset Directors of the British East India Company Hudson's Bay Company people Ellice family