Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell
Encyclopedia
Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl Russell (15 April 1937–14 October 2004) was a British
historian and politician. His parents were the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell
and Patricia Russell
. He was also a great-grandson of the 19th century British Whig
Prime Minister
Lord John Russell
.
Educated at Eton
and Merton College, Oxford
, Conrad Russell was one of the world's leading authorities on 17th century British history, having extensively written and lectured on parliamentary struggles of the period. Russell was also a passionate advocate of liberalism
, from a long family line of distinguished liberals.
After his death from complications of emphysema
, Russell was succeeded as Earl by his son, Nicholas Lyulph
. Another son, John Francis is also a politician.
. His major works include Crisis of Parliaments: English history 1509-1660 (1971), Origins of the English Civil War (edited, 1973), Parliaments and English politics, 1621-1629 (1979), Unrevolutionary England, 1603-1642 (1990), and Fall of the British monarchies, 1637-1642 (1991). His work on early Stuart Parliaments was profoundly influenced by the work of Alan Everitt, who had argued that the English gentry were preoccupied with defending their positions in the localities rather than responding to the demands of the Crown. This no longer seems entirely plausible in the light of the work done by Richard Cust, Clive Holmes, Peter Lake and Christopher Thompson. Russell argued that the English civil war was much less a result of long term constitutional conflicts than had previously been thought, and that its origins are to be sought rather in the years immediately preceding the outbreak of war in 1642 and in the context of the problems of the multiple kingdoms of the British Isles, a hypothesis for which he was indebted to the pioneering study of H. G. Koenigsberger. This area is still being explored by historians like John Adamson and David Scott even if their detailed conclusions vary from those reached by Russell.
He was Lecturer (and later Reader) in History at Bedford College, University of London
(now part of Royal Holloway
), 1960-1979; Professor of History at Yale University
, USA, 1979-1984; Astor Professor of British History at University College London
, 1984-1990; and Professor of British History at King's College London
from 1990 to his retirement in 2003.
and the then very weak Liberal Party
. He stood as the Labour candidate in Paddington South
in the 1966 general election
, but failed to win the seat from the Conservatives
.
He succeeded to the title of the 5th Earl Russell
on the death of his half brother, John Conrad Russell, in 1987. He was the first parliamentarian to take his seat as a Liberal Democrat
, shortly after the party was formed in 1988 from a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party
.
In 1999, all but 92 hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords
. Lord Russell was elected at the top of his party's list of hereditary peers to retain their seats, though he had consistently argued in favour of abolishing the Lords completely, and replacing it with an elected senate
.
He was vice-president of the Liberal Democrat Youth and Students
1993-1994 and honorary president of the Liberal Democrat History Group
1998-2004.
In his book Academic Freedom, Russell examines the ideal and the limits of academic freedom, and the relations between the university and the state. He notes (p.24) that his father's career is a reminder that a free society is not a guarantee against losing an academic job for holding very unpopular opinions on non-academic subjects, as Bertrand Russell
in fact did twice.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
historian and politician. His parents were the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
and Patricia Russell
Patricia Russell (nee Spence)
Patricia Russell, , was the third wife of the philosopher Bertrand Russell. She was a significant contributor to Russell's work, History of Western Philosophy....
. He was also a great-grandson of the 19th century British Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
.
Educated at Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Merton College, Oxford
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
, Conrad Russell was one of the world's leading authorities on 17th century British history, having extensively written and lectured on parliamentary struggles of the period. Russell was also a passionate advocate of liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, from a long family line of distinguished liberals.
After his death from complications of emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
, Russell was succeeded as Earl by his son, Nicholas Lyulph
Nicholas Russell, 6th Earl Russell
Nicholas Lyulph Russell, 6th Earl Russell , styled Viscount Amberley between 1987 and 2004, is the elder son of Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell and Elizabeth Russell...
. Another son, John Francis is also a politician.
Academic career
Russell was a prominent historian on the origins of the English Civil WarEnglish Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. His major works include Crisis of Parliaments: English history 1509-1660 (1971), Origins of the English Civil War (edited, 1973), Parliaments and English politics, 1621-1629 (1979), Unrevolutionary England, 1603-1642 (1990), and Fall of the British monarchies, 1637-1642 (1991). His work on early Stuart Parliaments was profoundly influenced by the work of Alan Everitt, who had argued that the English gentry were preoccupied with defending their positions in the localities rather than responding to the demands of the Crown. This no longer seems entirely plausible in the light of the work done by Richard Cust, Clive Holmes, Peter Lake and Christopher Thompson. Russell argued that the English civil war was much less a result of long term constitutional conflicts than had previously been thought, and that its origins are to be sought rather in the years immediately preceding the outbreak of war in 1642 and in the context of the problems of the multiple kingdoms of the British Isles, a hypothesis for which he was indebted to the pioneering study of H. G. Koenigsberger. This area is still being explored by historians like John Adamson and David Scott even if their detailed conclusions vary from those reached by Russell.
He was Lecturer (and later Reader) in History at Bedford College, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
(now part of Royal Holloway
Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...
), 1960-1979; Professor of History at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, USA, 1979-1984; Astor Professor of British History at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, 1984-1990; and Professor of British History at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
from 1990 to his retirement in 2003.
Political career
As a young man, Conrad Russell's political allegiance varied between the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and the then very weak Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
. He stood as the Labour candidate in Paddington South
Paddington South (UK Parliament constituency)
Paddington South was a Parliamentary constituency in London which returned one Member of Parliament. It was a compact urban area, but predominantly wealthy, and was most famously represented by Lord Randolph Churchill during the latter part of his career....
in the 1966 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...
, but failed to win the seat from the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
.
He succeeded to the title of the 5th Earl Russell
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, Foreign Secretary from 1852 to 1853 and 1859 to 1865 and Prime...
on the death of his half brother, John Conrad Russell, in 1987. He was the first parliamentarian to take his seat as a Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
, shortly after the party was formed in 1988 from a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
.
In 1999, all but 92 hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. Lord Russell was elected at the top of his party's list of hereditary peers to retain their seats, though he had consistently argued in favour of abolishing the Lords completely, and replacing it with an elected senate
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature or parliament. There have been many such bodies in history, since senate means the assembly of the eldest and wiser members of the society and ruling class...
.
He was vice-president of the Liberal Democrat Youth and Students
Liberal Democrat Youth and Students
Liberal Youth is the youth and student group of the Liberal Democrats, a political party in the United Kingdom.Liberal Democrat members who are under 26 years old or attending higher education institutions are automatically members of Liberal Youth if they agree to share this information at...
1993-1994 and honorary president of the Liberal Democrat History Group
Liberal Democrat History Group
The Liberal Democrat History Group is an organisation interested in the history of United Kingdom political party the Liberal Democrats, and its predecessor parties, the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party...
1998-2004.
Books
Published works include:- The Crisis of Parliaments 1603-1660 (1971)
- The Causes of the English Civil War (1990)
- The fall of the British Monarchies (1991)
- Academic Freedom (1993)
- An Intelligent Person's Guide to Liberalism (1999)
In his book Academic Freedom, Russell examines the ideal and the limits of academic freedom, and the relations between the university and the state. He notes (p.24) that his father's career is a reminder that a free society is not a guarantee against losing an academic job for holding very unpopular opinions on non-academic subjects, as Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
in fact did twice.