Arthur Llewellyn L. Russell

‘One crowded hour of Glorious life is worth an age without a name’

This is a quotation from a work by British poet Thomas Osbert Mordaunt written in 1760 during the Seven Years War. It was made famous by Sir Walter Scott when he quoted it in his 1816 novel Old Mortality.

Arthur Llewellyn L. Russell was born on 20th August 1865 in Norton, East Riding of Yorkshire to George and Rachael Russell (née Barker). Arthur married Ethel Stephenson (‘Thel’) at St Paul’s Church, York on 7th August 1895. Ethel was the daughter of William George and Margaret Jean Stephenson (née Gaudie).

Arthur sat his Law Examination when he was aged 18 while residing at The Mount, Malton. He became a Solicitors’ Clerk and by the 1901 census was a qualified Solicitor. This census also tells us that he lived at 13 The Mount with his wife, two sons Alec and Kenneth, a Nanny (Domestic Nurse) and a Cook.

By 1913 he was Chairman of Malton Urban District Council. Being over conscription age at the outbreak of the First World War he joined the Malton Volunteer Training Corps and became Adjutant, an important but mainly administrative role.

Although the glowing dedication on the memorial suggests that Arthur died on active service fighting for his country, his name does not appear on the War Memorial. In fact, Arthur died, aged 49, at 3 The Mount, Malton on 7th June 1915 of pneumonia and heart failure. His death was reported by his brother Bernard S. Russell (Corn Miller and Brewer) and it was to Bernard that he left all his wealth and not his wife!

Two of Arthur’s children went on to lead commissioned lives in the armed forces: Alec became an Army Captain in the 8th Punjab Regiment in India; Leslie Dunstan joined the Royal Artillery rising to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. His other son, Kenneth, became a solicitor working in his grandfather’s Malton firm, Russell and Wrangham (Corn millers and Brewers).

Arthur’s wife, Ethel, died March 30th 1941 and was buried alongside him in Malton Cemetery. Her inscription reads ‘Kind hearts are more than coronets’ (Tennyson).