John Russell, 2nd Earl Russell
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The Right Honourable The Earl Russell |
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| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for India | |
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In office 1929–1931 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Preceded by | Drummond Shiels |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Snell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 August 1865 |
| Died | 3 March 1931 (aged 65) |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Edith Scott Marion Cooke Elizabeth von Arnim |
John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, known as Frank Russell (12 August 1865 – 3 March 1931), was the elder surviving son of Viscount and Viscountess Amberley, and was raised by his paternal grandparents after his unconventional parents both died young. He was the grandson of the former prime minister John Russell, 1st Earl Russell and elder brother of the philosopher Bertrand Russell. He was married three times, lastly to Elizabeth von Arnim, who caricatured him in her novel Vera. Despite his landmark achievements in other respects, this Earl Russell is most famous for being tried for bigamy in 1901, after which he was known to Edwardian society as the "Wicked Earl".
Frank Russell was twice divorced, and separated permanently from his third and last wife three years after they married. He also had extramarital affairs.
His first wife was Mary Edith Scott (Mabel). They married in 1890. Mabel tried to divorce him (and lost) in 1891, then sued for restoration of conjugal rights in 1894. The Earl was granted a judicial separation in 1895, but she appealed and it was overturned. His mother-in-law also tried to harass him and was convicted of libel in 1897. Mabel, Countess Russell made her living by singing on the variety stage even while she was married to Frank Russell.
Russell next married Marion Cooke (born c. 1857–1858), a twice-divorced daughter of an Irish master-shoemaker, and former wife of George John Somerville, in the United States in 1900, after establishing domicile in that country and obtaining a divorce in Nevada. The British authorities considered such a divorce invalid, and Lord Russell was arrested and was convicted of bigamy in the House of Lords on 18 July 1901. He was sentenced to only three months in prison on account of the "extreme torture" he had suffered in his first marriage. The first Countess Russell had already obtained a divorce, and he married Mrs Somerville on 31 October 1901, three days after it became absolute. His second wife divorced him in 1915, after obtaining an annual income for life, suggesting some collusion.
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