Edward John Russell was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician.

Russell was born in Warrnambool, Victoria

Warrnambool, Victoria

-Cityscape:The original City of Warrnambool was a 4x8 grid, with boundaries of Lava Street , Japan Street , Merri Street and Henna Street . In the nineteenth century, it was intended that Fairy Street – with its proximity to the Warrnambool Railway Station – would be the main street of...

 and educated at Newport

Newport, Victoria

Newport is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hobsons Bay. At the 2006 Census, Newport had a population of 11,244.-History:...

 State School and St Mary's Catholic School, Williamstown

Williamstown, Victoria

Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hobsons Bay. At the 2006 Census, Williamstown had a population of 12,733....

. In 1899 he became involved with the labour movement and soon became a Printers' Union delegate to the Melbourne Trades Hall Council

Victorian Trades Hall Council

The Victorian Trades Hall Council is a representative body of trade union organisations, known as a Labour council, in the State of Victoria, Australia...

 and a member of the Victorian Socialist Party

Victorian Socialist Party

The Victorian Socialist Party was a socialist political party in Victoria, Australia in the early 20th century. The VSP was founded in 1906 in Melbourne, bringing together a number of older socialist groupings. A leading influence in the VSP's formation was the British trade unionist Tom Mann, who...

 (VSP).

Political career

In 1904 Russell ran unsuccessfully for the Victorian Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 seat of Prahran

Electoral district of Prahran

Prahran is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. It is a 12km² electorate in the inner south-east of Melbourne, taking in the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor, as well as parts of Balaclava, St Kilda, St Kilda East and Toorak...

 for the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

. Despite being unemployed, he campaigned successfully in a suit provided by the VSP, for election as a senator

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 at the 1906 election. He married Margaret May Evans in April 1907. From September 1913 he was an assistant minister in the Fisher

Andrew Fisher

Andrew Fisher was an Australian politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister on three separate occasions. Fisher's 1910-13 Labor ministry completed a vast legislative programme which made him, along with Protectionist Alfred Deakin, the founder of the statutory structure of the new nation...

 and Hughes

Billy Hughes

William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....

 governments. On 27 October 1916, he resigned from the ministry along with William Higgs

William Higgs

William Guy Higgs was an Australian politician.William Higgs was born on 18 January 1862 at Wingham, New South Wales, the son of a Cornish storekeeper, William Guy Higgs....

 and William Webster

William Webster (Australian politician)

William Webster was an Australian politician. Born in Everton, Lancashire in England, he was the son of John Webster, a labourer, and Elizabeth, née Poynton. Leaving school at 13, Webster migrated to New South Wales in 1879 and, having quarried stone at Pyrmont and saved prodigiously, was able to...

 in opposition to Hughes handling of conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

. Nevertheless, on 14 November 1916, he joined Hughes' National Labor Party

National Labor Party

The National Labor Party was the name used by the Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes for himself and his followers after he was expelled from the Australian Labor Party in November 1916 over his pro-conscription stance in relation to World War I...

 government and was reappointed to the ministry

Second Hughes Ministry

The Second Hughes Ministry was the thirteenth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 14 November 1916 to 17 February 1917.National Labor Party*Rt Hon Billy Hughes, MP: Prime Minister, Attorney-General*Senator Hon George Pearce: Minister for Defence...

 as assistant minister. From March 1918 to December 1921, he was Vice-President of the Executive Council

Vice-President of the Executive Council

The Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council is a position in Australian federal governments, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Federal Executive Council in the absence of the Governor-General....

. He was also chairman of various boards dealing with agricultural commodities and vice-president of the Board of Trade and for much of 1919 he was acting Minister for Defence

Minister for Defence (Australia)

The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...

. He was apparently not able to cope with this workload and he was dropped from the ministry in December 1921. Although he was still a senator, he did not participate in parliament after 1922 and died in the Sunbury

Sunbury, Victoria

Sunbury is a regional city, located north-west of Melbourne's central business district, in the state of Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hume. At the 2006 Census, Sunbury had a population of 31,000...

Hospital for the Insane, survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.