[1] His father and grandfather were members of the Church of England, and he was confirmed as an Anglican; but was trained for the dissenting ministry at Hoxton Academy (September 1800–June 1803), under Robert Simpson, D.D.
[2] In 1806 he became minister of Pell Street Chapel, Ratcliff Highway, where he was ordained on 5 September; but his ministry was not popular.
About 1820[2] he adopted his mother's maiden name of Russell,[1] and in 1823 obtained the king's patent for the change.
[2] His tastes were literary, and he edited a collection of hymns as an appendix to Isaac Watts.
His Jubilee Sermon (1809) was roughly handled in the Anti-Jacobin Review, November 1809, and he issued a defensive "Appendix", giving some autobiographical details.