Russell Sturgis (July 7, 1805 – November 2, 1887) was a Boston merchant active in the China trade, and later head of Baring Brothers in London.

[4] Sturgis entered Harvard College at the age of twelve and graduated in 1823 as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society.

[8] While he was there, his portrait and those of three of his four children by his second wife, Mary Greene Hubbard, were painted by the English portraitist George Chinnery.

[9] He accepted and ultimately became head of the firm, succeeding fellow American Joshua Bates (husband to Sturgis' cousin Lucretia).

[6][a] In England, he lived at 17 Carlton House Terrace in London (today home to the Federation of British Artists and the Mall Galleries), and Givons Grove in Leatherhead.

Her paternal grandfather was Robert Treat Paine, a lawyer, politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the first Attorney General of Massachusetts.

[5] The other three, all of whom were members of the Codman family, were: After the death of his wife Mary, Sturgis married, for a third time, to Julia Overing Boit (1823–1888) on June 4, 1846.