Bourn Russell

Bourn Russell (1 December 1794 – 4 July 1880) was an Australian politician and businessman. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1858 and 1880. He was also a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for four months in 1856.

Russell was the son of Bourn Russell, a merchant sea captain and Hannah Chandler. He received an elementary education at the Rye Free Grammar School and was apprenticed to sea at age 16. Within 5 years he had become a ship's commander and began to make a fortune by investing in vessels trading with China and the South Seas. He became involved in the New South Wales whaling industry after 1824. In 1834 Russell established his family in New South Wales and by 1844 he had developed pastoral interests and settled in Maitland. He was bankrupted in the recession of the late 1840s but regained his fortune by establishing a boiling-down works near Maitland. His fourth son was the noted astronomer Henry Russell.

Russell was elected as the member for Northumberland Boroughs at the first election held in New South Wales under responsible government. He was the second candidate, after George Nichols, to be elected for the two member seat and he defeated the next candidate, Elias Weekes, by 13 votes. However, Weekes contested the election on the grounds that more than 20 people who were unqualified to vote had voted for Russell. After investigating this claim, the Assembly's Elections and Qualifications Committee overturned the result and awarded the seat to Weekes. Russell was unsuccessful in an attempt to regain the seat at the 1857 by-election caused by the death of Nichols. Following this defeat he accepted an appointment to the Legislative Council initially for a fixed term expiring in 1861 and then as a life member. He did not hold a ministerial or parliamentary position.