Russell of Killowen, Charles Russell, Lord Russell of Killowen (1832–1900)

English lawyer and Lord Chief Justice. Russell was attorney-general in 1886 and 1892. He was made lord of appeal in 1894 and Lord Chief Justice in the same year. He introduced the Secret Commissions Bill in 1900. Russell was one of the greatest of 19th-century English judges. Few have been able to equal the brilliant lucidity of his summings-up, and, as counsel, his skill in cross-examination was outstanding. In a private capacity Russell played a large part in the English Catholic revival.

Russell was born in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland, of Roman Catholic parents. He was educated at private schools and at St Vincent's College, Castleknock. From 1854 he practised as a solicitor in the county courts of Down and Antrim, Northern Ireland. In 1856 he moved to London, England, and was called to the English Bar in 1859, becoming a Queen's Counsel in 1872. He sat in Parliament as member for Dundalk, Ireland (1880–85), and for South Hackney, England (1885–86 and 1892). A strong Home Ruler, he was leading counsel for the Irish nationalist Charles Parnell. Russell was one of the British representatives in the Bering Sea arbitration. He was given a life peerage in 1894.