The son of Alexander Russel of The Scotsman, he was born at Edinburgh in October 1857.
[1][2] After completing his education, Russel worked largely in British India as a tea planter and merchant.
[3] Russel appeared once in first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), captaining the club against Derbyshire at Lord's in 1894.
[4] Batting twice in the match, he was dismissed in the MCC first innings without scoring by George Davidson, while in their second innings following-on, he was unbeaten on 25, with Derbyshire going onto win the match by 7 wickets.
[5] He died on 12 October 1917 from heart failure, immediately following a meeting of the Imperial Tea Company of which he was a director.