Quick Facts
Biography
Nicholas Lyulph Russell, 6th Earl Russell (12 September 1968 – 17 August 2014), styled Viscount Amberley between 1987 and 2004, was the elder son of Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell and Elizabeth Russell (formerly Elizabeth Sanders). He succeeded to the Earldom of Russell on his father's death on 14 October 2004.
Like his grandfather, Bertrand Russell, he was an active member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, from his teenage years until his death. Like his father and grandfather (both of whom eventually left), he was a member of the Labour Party and would be regarded as sitting squarely within its left wing.
By the House of Lords Act 1999, all but 92 hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords–the abolition of which Russell advocated so he did not sit in the Lords.
Career
Russell was the disability rights campaigner for the Labour Party and was campaigns officer for the Royal National Institute of the Blind. He also trained the Metropolitan Police Service. He was a regional board member of the Co-operative Group and was active in the Co-operative Party, as well as SERA and Transport 2000.
He was also a longstanding national executive member of the Socialist Educational Association.
He was actively involved in Disability Labour and was a former chair of the group. He was Disability Labour's first representative on the Labour Party's National Policy Forum, the National Executive Committee's equalities sub-committee and the Socialist Societies executive.
On 7 May 2010 Russell was elected as Labour councillor for the Cann Hall ward of Waltham Forest London Borough Council, a position he held for a four-year term until May 2014.
Personal life and death
He lived with his fiancée Georgina Farrer in Leytonstone, until his sudden death from a presumed heart attack on 17 August 2014, aged 45. However, autopsy later confirmed the cause of death to have been due to a thrombosis.
Titles
- Mr. Nicholas Russell (1968–1987)
- Viscount Amberley (1987–2004)
- The Rt. Hon. The Earl Russell (2004–2010)
- Councillor The Rt. Hon. The Earl Russell (2010-2014)
- The Rt. Hon. The Earl Russell (2014)