Charles Russell

Charles Russell (22 July 1786 – 15 May 1856) was a British Conservative and Tory politician.

Family Russell was the second surviving son of Sir Henry Russell, 1st Baronet and his second wife, Anna Barbara Whitworth, sister of Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth.

Later life and death Then living in Adelaide Place near London Bridge, in 1839, he became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Between 1839 and 1855, he was a "forceful and successful" chairman of the Great Western Railway, retiring due to ill health.

In 1856, he committed suicide at his home in Argyle Street, London, becoming the second of four Reading MPs to take his own life. An inquest after his death found, in the early hours of 15 May, he had shot himself in the mouth on a second attempt after the pistol had first misfired. His valet said, in his final few days, he had been suffering from chest pains which had depressed him, and had found him alive but insensible at 06:45, lingering until 14:00 with a bullet in his brain. A verdict of suicide under the influence of "temporary insanity" was returned.

In accordance with his will, the residue of his estate was left to his nephew, Sir Charles Russell, 3rd Baronet, and created a trust fund for the payment of annuities of £200 each to spinster Mary Ann Watkins and her daughter, who may also have been his, Jane Watkins. He also left money for care of Janes Monies née Ellis, who he had been trustee for and was confined in a Hoxton lunaitc asylum. This paid for the rents and profits on a leasehold in St Pancras, London, which provided her with £100 a year for life.