Sir Arthur Edward Ian Montague Russell, 6th Baronet (30 November 1878 – 24 February 1964) was a British

mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

. He was a collector and a collector of collections.

Biography

He was born in

Swallowfield Park Swallowfield Park is a Grade II* listed building, listed stately home and Estate (house), estate in the England, English county of Berkshire. The house is near the village of Swallowfield, some 4 miles south of the town of Reading, Berkshire, Re ...

, near

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, the son of Sir George Russell, 4th Baronet and Lady Constance Charlotte Elisa Lennox. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and studied chemistry at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. He served in France during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was invalided home in 1915. He was appointed a Member of Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1920 and succeeded as 6th Baronet upon the death of his older brother in 1944. In his lifetime, he amassed a huge collection of minerals. Among the more important were the collections of Philip Rashleigh (1728–1811), Lady Elizabeth Coxe Hippisley (1760–1843), John Hawkins (1761–1841), John Hamrease (1764–1811), George Croker Fox (1784–1850),G. C., R. W. and A. Fox were members of the Fox family of Falmouth.

Edmund Pearse Edmund is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and nobles *Ed ...

(1788–1856), Robert Were Fox (1789–1877), Isaac Walker (1790–1853), Alfred Fox (1794–1874), Sir

Maziere Brady Sir Maziere Brady, 1st Baronet, PC (Ire) (20 July 1796 – 13 April 1871) was an Irish judge, notable for his exceptionally long, though not particularly distinguished tenure as Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Background Brady was born at his paren ...

(1796–1871), Baroness Burdett-Coutts (1814–1906), Sir

Warington Wilkinson Smyth Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth (26 August 181719 June 1890) was a British geologist. Biography Smyth was born at Naples, the son of Admiral W H Smyth and his wife Annarella Warington. His father was engaged in the Admiralty Survey o ...

(1817–1890),

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

(1819–1900), Col. R. B. Rimington (1828–1910),

Arthur Champernowne Sir Arthur Champernowne (c.1524 – 1 April 1578) was an English politician, high sheriff and soldier who lived at Dartington Hall in Devon, England. Champernowne belonged to a large Anglo-Norman family that originated from Cambernon, in ...

(1839–1887), J. H. Collins (1841–1916), W. Semmons (1841–1915) and

Samuel Henson Samuel "Sammie" Henson (born January 1, 1971) is a World Champion wrestler, winning a gold medal in freestyle for the USA at the 1998 FILA Wrestling World Championships, held in Tehran, Iran. He was also a silver medalist at the 2000 Summer Oly ...

(1848–1930). The Russell Collection at Swallowfield Park became famous throughout the world and was visited by mineralogists and collectors from across Europe and America. The collection of about 12,000 of the finest British minerals is now in the Mineralogical Collection of the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

. He married, in 1904,

Aileen Kerr Pechell Aileen is an Irish feminine given name, a variant of Eileen. Notable people with this name include: People * Aileen Adams (born 1923), British consultant anaesthetist * Aileen Allen (1888–1950), American diver * Aileen Armitage (born 1930 ...

(ca. 1879-1920), daughter of Admiral

Mark Robert Pechell Admiral Mark Robert Pechell (6 July 1830 – 9 July 1902) was a British Royal Navy officer who took part in the Baltic Expedition during the Crimean War 1854-55. Biography Pechell was the second son of the Rev. Horace Robert Pechell (1792-188 ...

. They had two children, including George Michael Russell who succeeded as baronet.

Honours and awards

*President of the British Mineralogical Society from 1939 to 1942. *Bolitho Medal from

Royal Geological Society of Cornwall The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall is a geological society originally based in Penzance, Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1814 to promote the study of the geology of Cornwall, and is the second oldest geological society in ...

in 1948. *Henwood Medal from the

Royal Institution of Cornwall The Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC) is a Learned society in Truro, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was founded in Truro on 5 February 1818 as the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical Institution. The Institution was one of the earliest ...

in 1953. *Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1956. *He described and named the new species

rashleighite Rashleighite, also called henwoodite, is a ferrian variety of turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grade ...

. *Was honoured by the naming of the minerals russellite and

arthurite Arthurite is a mineral composed of divalent copper and iron ions in combination with trivalent arsenate, phosphate and sulfate ions with hydrogen and oxygen.Frost R. L., Duong L., Martens W. (2003) Molecular assembly in secondary minerals – Ram ...

. The Russell SocietyRussell Society (Retrieved 16 January 2008).
for amateur and professional mineralogists is named in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Arthur 1878 births 1964 deaths Alumni of King's College London Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British Army personnel of World War I English geologists Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Eton College People from Swallowfield Royal Engineers officers