He was the eldest surviving son of Sir Henry Russell, 1st Baronet, and his second wife, Anne Barbara Whitworth (1763–1814).
Russell's career is discussed in some detail in William Dalrymple's 2002 history of British India, White Mughals, where he figures as a gifted but weak diplomat.
[4] In retirement he lived first at Sutton Park in Bedfordshire, then at Southernhay House, an architecturally notable listed building in Exeter.
[7] Together, they were the parents of six children: Sir Henry died at Swallowfield on 19 April 1852,[9] and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Charles.
After the death of his first wife and before his marriage to his second, Russell had a liaison with a local lady which resulted in the birth of his daughter, who he named Mary Wilson in 1815.