Francis Russell

Major-General Francis Shirley Russell (13 December 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 as cornet on 6 February 1863, was promoted to lieutenant on 23 August 1864, and to captain on 13 June 1868. From 1869 to 1870 he served as an aide-de-camp in Ireland, and from 1873 to 1874 in the Ashanti Campaign.

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 promoted to colonel. From 1889, he was a military attaché in Berlin,

He stood unsuccessfully for the Conservative Party in East Aberdeenshire at the 1892 UK general election, and again at a by-election in December. He was elected in Cheltenham at the 1895 UK general election, serving until his retirement in 1900.

Russell was the maternal grandfather of William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw.