He received an elementary education at the Free Grammar School in Rye and was apprenticed to sea in the coal trade at age 15.

Lady Rowena returned to Britain and again sailed to Australia, this time on a trading voyage, arriving Hobart in November 1828.

[5] Captain Russell came to Australia again on the same ship, arriving Sydney with a general cargo in August 1830, this time intending to stay.

[9] Russell had established his family in New South Wales by 1834 and in the early 1840s he developed pastoral interests and settled in Maitland where he became a storekeeper.

He was bankrupted in the recession of the late 1840s but restored his fortunes by establishing a boiling-down works near Maitland to produce tallow for export to Britain.

After investigating this claim, the Legislative Assembly's Committee of Elections and Qualifications overturned the result and awarded the seat to Weekes in a re-count.