Biography

Russell, the son of Alexander Russell, farmer, and his wife Christian Ballantyne, was born at the farm of Windydoors, Selkirkshire

Selkirkshire

Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk is a registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Berwickshire to the north-east, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south...

, in 1741. He was at school, first, at Innerleithen

Innerleithen

Innerleithen is a small town in the committee area of Tweeddale, in the Scottish Borders.-Etymology:The name "Innerleithen" comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "confluence of the Leithen", because it is here that the river joins the Tweed. The prefix "Inner-/Inver-" is common in many Scottish...

, Peeblesshire

Peeblesshire

Peeblesshire , the County of Peebles or Tweeddale was a county of Scotland. Its main town was Peebles, and it bordered Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lanarkshire to the west.After the local government reorganisation of 1975 the use of the name...

, and then for ten months in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, where in 1756 he was apprenticed to a bookseller and printer.

When a journeyman Russell joined in 1763 the Miscellaneous Society, composed of university and other students. His friends revised a translation by him of Crebillon's Rhadamisthe and Zenobia, which he unsuccessfully submitted to Garrick for representation. He spent the autumn of 1765 with Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank

Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank

Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank . Son of Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank and Elizabeth Stirling. An author and economist much respected in his own time. Member of the Cocoa Tree Club and The Poker Club. Uncle of Major Patrick Ferguson killed at the Battle of King's Mountain in 1780.In 1722...

 at his seat in Midlothian

Midlothian

Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....

, and presently forsook his trade, trusting to prosper under Elibank's patronage.

After a short stay with his father, Russell proceeded to London in 1767 as a man of letters. For a time he was corrector of the press for Strahan, and in 1769 became printing overseer to Messrs. Brown & Adlard, but soon after 1770 appears to have lived exclusively by literary work. In 1780 he visited Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 to secure money as his brother's heir, and on his return prosecuted his literary calling in London with vigour and success.

In 1787 Russell married, and retired to Knottyholm, near Langholm, Dumfriesshire. In 1792 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from St. Andrews University. He died suddenly of paralysis on 25 December 1793, and was buried in the churchyard of Westerkirk, Langholm. His widow, whose maiden name was Scott, and one daughter survived him.