The Reverend John Russell (1795-1883)
John Russell was born in Dartmouth, the son of a clergyman of the same name. His father, like many contemporaries in the Church, owned a pack of hounds and the younger John grew up with a love of the hunting field. He began school in Plymouth and later went to Blundell’s school in Tiverton. In 1814 he was admitted to Exeter College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1819, married in 1826 and in 1832 became rector of the North Devon Parish of Swymbridge where he remained, much loved, for nearly fifty years, continuing to hunt until the year before his death.