Francis Russell (MP for Cheltenham)

Francis Shirley Russell (1840 – 18 March 1912) was a British soldier and politician.

Born into a prominent Aberdeenshire family, Russell was educated at Radley College, and then at Balliol College, Oxford, from which he graduated in 1862. He then joined the 14th Hussars, and from 1869 to 1870 served as an aide-de-camp in Ireland, and from 1873 to 1874 in the Ashanti Campaign.^[1]

In 1875, Russell joined the staff of the Royal Military College, as an inspector in tactics, then in 1878 he moved to the Intelligence Branch. In 1879, he served in the Zulu War, then in 1880/81 in the First Boer War. In 1885, he was appointed as colonel of the 1st Royal Dragoons. From 1889, he was a military attaché in Berlin.^[1]

Russell was made a Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1891. In 1892, he was made brigadier-general of the Aberdeen Defence Brigade. He stood unsuccessfully for the Conservative Party in East Aberdeenshire at the 1892 UK general election, and again at . He was elected in Cheltenham at the 1895 UK general election, serving until his retirement in 1900. In 1897, he was made a major-general.^[1]

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