Jack Russell (priest)

The Reverend Jack Russell
Russell dressed in his hunting clothes
Born	(1795-12-21)21 December 1795 Dartmouth, Devon
Died	28 April 1883(1883-04-28) (aged 87)
Alma mater	Exeter College, Oxford
Known for	Dog breeder
Home town	Swimbridge, Devon

John "Jack" Russell (21 December 1795 – 28 April 1883), known as "The Sporting Parson", vicar of Swimbridge and rector of Black Torrington in North Devon, was an enthusiastic fox-hunter and dog breeder, who developed the Jack Russell Terrier, a variety of the Fox Terrier breed.

Russell was born on 21 December 1795 in Dartmouth, South Devon, the eldest son of John Russell by his wife Nora Jewell.

He was educated at Plympton Grammar School, Blundell's School, Tiverton and Exeter College, Oxford.

It was at Exeter College, legend has it, that he spotted a little white terrier with dark tan spots over her eyes, ears and at the tip of her tail, who was owned by a local milkman in the nearby small hamlet of Elsfield or Marston). Russell bought the dog on the spot and this animal, called "Trump", became the foundation of a line of fox hunting terriers that became known as Jack Russell Terriers. They were well-suited by the shortness and strength of their legs for digging out foxes which had "gone to earth" having been hunted over-ground by fox hounds.

Russell was a founding member of The Kennel Club. He helped to write the breed standard for the Fox Terrier (Smooth) and became a respected judge. He did not show his own fox terriers on the conformation bench, saying that the difference between his dogs and the conformation dogs could be likened to the difference between wild and cultivated flowers.