The Russell Society

Arthur Russell was born on 30 November 1878, and was to become the 6th baronet of Swallowfield Park, Reading [picture below]. He succeeded to the title on the death of his elder brother, George Arthur Russell in 1944.

Sir Arthur was educated at Eton and studied chemistry at Kings College, London. He subsequently took up an appointment with the London and South Western Railway. This continued the family connection with railways, and in later years the name plate from the engine `Swallowfield Park' was kept close to his mineral collection. He was later to work on British mineral resources, for instance he investigated the chromite deposits of the Shetlands.

It was from his mother Lady Constance Charlotte Elizabeth Russell* that Arthur first acquired his interest of mineral specimens. Indeed, Lady Constance had started out having elementary lessons in mineralogy from Miss Henson, sister of Samuel Henson the London dealer and had spent her pocket money buying specimens. It was her small collection that started the nucleus of Arthur's which was to become the most outstanding and comprehensive private collection of British minerals that had ever been made.

Arthur made his first visit underground in a working mine, at Wheal Providence, St. Ives, Cornwall, being about 8 years old at the time. Three years later he went underground at Botallack, thereafter he was to visit every mine in Great Britain and Ireland, and to go into every metalliferous mine in the British Isles that had been worked during his life time, with the exception of the Foxdale and Laxey mines on the Isle of Man. Much attention was devoted to both working and abandoned mines in the former of which whole days and nights were spent underground securing specimens that otherwise would never have seen the light of day. In this field Russell was outstanding, he had a keen eye for good specimens, especially for the rarer and more unusual species which tended to be overlooked. He paid great detail to mineralogical conditions and had an instinctive feeling for where minerals might be found. Russell had a great sense of humour and was a good `mixer', getting on well with almost everyone and making many friends among mine and quarry managers, miners, and quarrymen. He was, in consequence, usually notified of any interesting discoveries in mines or quarries, and so was able to get hold of many fine specimens which might have otherwise been destroyed.

Over the years Russell acquired a considerable number of collections, some dating back to 1800 or earlier, many containing specimens no longer available in-situ. Among the more important were; Philip Rashleigh (1728-1811), John Hawkins (1761-1841), Edmund Pearse (1788-1856), Sir Warington W. Smyth (1817-1890), Baroness Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), John Ruskin (1819-1900), Samuel Henson (1848-1930), J.H. Collins (1841-1916), and W. Semmons (1841-1915).

The Russell Collection contains many outstanding specimens, but special mention must be made of the excellent suites of chalcopyrite, chalcocite, fluorite, barite, pyromorphite and mimetite. One of Russell's unfulfilled ambitions was to write a book on the mineralogy of the British Isles, and his copious notes on the subject are now in the Mineralogy Department, The Natural History Museum, London. As Russell said `It is my earnest hope and desire that this collection upon which I have bestowed so much loving care and so much of my life shall remain intact and be well cared for wherever it finds a resting place'.

On his death in February 1964, aged 86, the whole of his superb collection amounting to some 12,000 specimens was passed to The Natural History Museum, together with storage cabinets, maps, notes and many books by Russell's generous bequest, on condition that it will not be dispersed but kept as a British regional collection. The collection will remain his greatest memorial.

* Genealogical records give his mother's last name as Elisa - Ed.

Further reading. Sir Arthur Russell. Obituary by Arthur Kingsbury. 1966. Mineralogical Magazine , 35, 673-677.
Editorial by R.J. King in J. Russell Soc., 1(1), I (1982).

Although the entire Russell collection was estimated to be some 14,000 specimens (Obituary by Arthur Kingsbury, 1966) at the time it was bequeathed to the Natural History Museum surplus material was disposed of by the NHM to dealers and others by exchange. The Russell Collection at the NHM now contains around 12,000 specimens preserved as "The Russell Collection of British Minerals" a distinct entity separate from the main collection due to its uniqueness. It should also be noted that Sir Arthur was quite generous with his collected specimens and passed on material to other collectors if he felt that they would gain something from possessing them and further their interest in mineralogy.

There are many Russell specimens in private collections and many still with their original Russell labels that were always hand written in his own unmistakable style. The labels themselves are also avidly collected by people with an interest in British mineralogy and mineralogists.

The two photographs shown above were kindly supplied by Mr. Dave Harris, and are of specimens from his collection that were originally collected or acquired by Sir Arthur Russell. The beryl in quartz is from Sheskinarone, Dunglow, Co. Donegal, Ireland and was originally collected in 1939. The A. Russell label has been stuck to a Rayner label a company of medical and other instrument makers at 100, New Bond Street, London. The company had a mineral department and supplied gemmological instruments.

The liroconite was not supplied with copy of the label but Dave informs us that the back of the original label for the liroconite specimen states "A. K. Borland Coll'n H237 and ex BM(NH) Russell collection".

Dr. Ben Grguric, in Australia, has us sent information on this small Hope's Nose gold in calcite specimen he bought from a US dealer but originally obtained from Reg Parkinson along with his dealer label. Ben suspects the specimen was originally part of a batch collected by Sir Arthur Russell (see Russell A. (1929). On the occurrence of native gold at Hope's Nose, Torquay, Devonshire. Mineral Magazine 22:159-162) and deposited in the exchange collection of the BMNH. It was thought Parkinson did some exchanges with the museum and may have acquired it by that means. Certainly Reg did have access to Russell specimens as Mr. Philip James recovered the three labels, along with others, that are shown below from a cabinet that was in Parkinson's business premises in Doulting just before it closed.

A few Russell specimens seem to have found their way to Australia. The photographs of the tennantite and malachite specimens shown below were provided by Mr. Paul Melville who acquired them in the late 1980's. The specimens all came through the celebrated Australian collector Albert Chapman (see links, right) who, coincidently, was closely associated with Reg Parkinson who himself spent some years mineral prospecting in Australia.

The specimen of tennantite from Wheal Jewel, Gwennap, Cornwall is interesting with the association to J. Lavine and the Baroness Burdett-Coutts collection. The specimen carries a small, typed label at the lower right with the number 27 printed on. This corresponds with the penciled number on the top left of the Russell label along with other numbers. Paul would like to know what these numbers are. Are they Russell catalogue numbers or the museum's? Can you help Paul?

Another interesting specimen is the malachite that presents a slight dilemma with the labelling. I can find no reference to "Reedy Cliff" in Australia (there is a Reedy Cliff near Wadebridge, Cornwall but this is obviously not from there) The only likely location is Kitticoola mine, Reedy Creek in the Mt. Lofty Ranges, South Australia. Reg Parkinson was prospecting in S.Australia in the 1950's and sending specimens back for sale. Could this have passed to Russell from Parkinson and has now returned to Australia?

This web site is hoping to identify more Russell specimens that are in private collections and we would be interested to have photographs, along with supporting documentation, to put on this page. It is also asking questions on the distribution of Russell specimens both before and after his death. Do you have any contributions?

Mr. Philip James recovered these three labels from a cabinet that was said to have belonged to Arthur Russell and came to Reg Parkinson's business after Russell's death presumably along with the surplus mineral specimens. Parkinson's business was then being managed by Mrs. Olwen Fisher and was closed not long after that.

The four photographs shown here were generously provided by the National Museums and Galleries of Wales and are from specimens in their collection of minerals in the Harwood Collection. The star labels are Harwood's. The smaltite does not say Russell but the handwriting is identical, it also has both Lavin and Baroness Burdett-Coutts on it so is quite interesting.

Coincidently the native sulphur and calcite must have been collected on the same visit as the jasper and talc above as both are dated 1946 and the specimens were collected in the company of his son Christopher from Russell's third marriage.

All images © National Museums and Galleries of Wales.

If you would like to see more Russell labels visit the Mineralogical Record Biographical Archive where information from this page has been reproduced and showing a further fourteen original Russell labels or labels from collections he had acquired.