John Francis Russell, 7th Earl Russell (born 19 November 1971), is a British

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of April 2025, there are 800 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary ...

, photographer, and

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

politician.

Early life

The younger son of

Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl Russell, (15 April 1937 – 14 October 2004), was a British historian and politician. As an academic historian, he worked primarily on 17th-century English history, having extensively written and l ...

, a professor of history at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and his wife Elizabeth Franklin Sanders, Russell is also a grandson of the philosopher

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

and a great-great-grandson of

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United K ...

, a Liberal

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

. He was educated at the

William Ellis School William Ellis School is a voluntary aided secondary school and sixth form for boys located in Gospel Oak, London, England. Admissions The School is located near Hampstead Heath in north London. It is situated just east of Parliament Hill an ...

Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...

.''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

'', volume 3, 2003, p. 3439. As a teenager, he took

adventure training Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...

holidays at Ty'n y Berth, a Wide Horizons centre in Wales, and he later became an advocate of providing disadvantaged children with such opportunities.

Career

Russell works as a freelance photographer, specializing in "political photography, event photography, charity commissions and landscapes". In 2006, he was in-house photographer for ''

Total Politics ''Total Politics'' was a British political magazine described as "a lifestyle magazine for the political community". It was first published in June 2008, and was distributed freely to all MPs, MEPs, peers, political journalists, members of the ...

'' magazine and also works for the Liberal Democrats, the

London Wildlife Trust London Wildlife Trust is an English wildlife charity based in London. Founded in 1981, London Wildlife Trust is one of 46 members of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (known as The Wildlife Trusts), each of which is a local nature charity ...

, other charities, and individuals. He publishes work at Zenfolio. Russell became chairman of the

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

Liberal Democrats and went on to serve as a Liberal Democrat councillor for Forest Hill on Lewisham Borough Council from 2006 to 2010, chairing its Overview and Scrutiny committee. In 2012 he was his party's candidate for the Greenwich and Lewisham seat on the

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...

. In 2006, Russell joined the board of Wide Horizons and chaired it from 2012. It went into administration and ceased trading in 2018.DISPOSAL OF FORMER WIDE HORIZONS OUTDOOR EDUCATION SITES IN KENT & WALES
lewisham.gov.uk. On 17 August 2014, on the death of his older brother Nicholas Russell, 6th Earl Russell, Russell succeeded as

Earl Russell Earl Russell, of Kingston Russell in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 30 July 1861 for the prominent Liberal politician Lord John Russell. He was Home Secretary from 1835 to 1839, For ...

and Viscount Amberley, both in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great B ...

. In the 2017 general election, he stood for the Liberal Democrats in Lewisham West and Penge, but Labour held the seat. In 2022 he stood unsuccessfully for election to

Lewisham London Borough Council Lewisham London Borough Council, also known as Lewisham Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Lewisham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour Party ...

. In June 2023, Russell entered the House of Lords after winning a whole house by-election to fill a vacancy among the excepted hereditary peers.

References

External links

Professional photography site
* 1971 births Place of birth missing (living people) Living people British photographers Councillors in the London Borough of Lewisham Earls Russell Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Liberal Democrats (UK) hereditary peers Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates Hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act 1999 People educated at William Ellis School J Younger sons of earls 21st-century British photographers {{UK-earl-stub