Conrad Russell
Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl Russell (born 1937) is a British historian and politician. He is a son of the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell, and a great-grandson of the 19th century British Whig Prime Minister Lord John Russell.
Educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford, Conrad Russell is one of the world's leading authorities on seventeenth century British history, having extensively written and lectured on parliamentary struggles of the period. Russell is also a passionate advocate of liberalism, from a long family line of distinguished liberals.
Academic career
Russell is a prominent historian on the origins of the English Civil War. His major works include Crisis of Parliaments: English history 1509-1660 (1971), Origins of the English Civil War (edited, 1973), Parliaments and English politics, 1621-1629 (1979, Unrevolutionary England, 1603-1642 (1990), and Fall of the British monarchies, 1637-1642 (1991). Russell argued that the English civil war was much less a result of longterm constitutional conflicts than had previously been thought, and that its origins are to be sought rather in the immediate years preceding the outbreak of war in 1642.
Lecturer and Reader in History at Bedford London, 1974-1979
Lecturer in History at Yale University, USA, 1979-1984
Lecturer in History at University College, London, 1984-1990
Professor of History, King's College, London, 1990-2003 (retired)
Political career
He succeeded to the title of the 5th Earl Russell on the death of his brother, John Conrad Russell, in 1987. He was the first ever parliamentarian to take his seat as a Liberal Democrat, shortly after the party was formed in 1988 from a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party.
Russell has at various times been spokesman on Home Affairs, Youth Affairs, Work and Pensions.
In 1999, all but 92 hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords. Conrad Russell was elected at the top of his party's list of hereditary peers to retain their seats, though he has consistently argued in favour of abolishing the Lords completely, and replacing it with an elected senate.
He is a frequent contributor to debates, much respected on all sides of the House, and well-known for sprinkling his speeches with historical analogies.
Vice- President of the Liberal Democrat Youth and Students 1993-1994, and Honorary President 1994-present.
Honorary President of the Liberal Democrat History Group 1998-present.
Books
Published works include:
- The Crisis of Parliaments 1603-1660 (1971)
- The Causes of the English Civil War (1990)
- The fall of the British Monarchies (1991)
- An Intelligent Person's Guide to Liberalism (1999)
