 He was born in Lewisham and died in Leyton.Russell played his first two matches for Essex in miscellaneous fixtures against Leicestershire during the 1893 season, featuring in a game against a team of touring Australians just six weeks later, a match in which one-time Test cricketer and Wisden Cricketer of the Year Walter Mead picked up seventeen wickets, the most valuable haul ever made in a first-class cricket match by an Essex player.Russell's debut first-class match came in 1894, when Essex played in eight miscellaneous first-class fixtures against county-representative teams who, the following year, would convene to set up the brand new County Championship, running its first full season in 1895.