Conrad Russell (letter writer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Conrad Russell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 April 1878 |
| Died | 27 April 1947 (aged 69) |
| Allegiance | British Empire |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
Conrad Russell (3 April 1878 – 27 April 1947) was an English farmer and letter writer, who carried on lengthy and intimate correspondences with some of the most celebrated society beauties of his day, including Diana Cooper, Daphne Thynne, and Deborah Cavendish.
Russell was the youngest of the six children of Lord Arthur Russell and Laura, the daughter of Paul Louis Jules, Vicomte de Peyronnet. He was accordingly a nephew of the Duke of Bedford, and a cousin of the philosopher Bertrand Russell, as well as of the latter's son, his namesake Conrad Russell. He was educated privately, at home and abroad, before attending Balliol College, Oxford, where he formed part of a celebrated generation which included his friends Raymond Asquith, John Buchan, Aubrey Herbert, and Auberon Herbert.[1]
Post Oxford, Russell engaged in a number of occupations (including employment in the Colonial Office and in the City), none of which he found wholly satisfactory. In World War 1, he served in (among other units) the Bedfordshire Yeomanry and the 8th Hussars. A number of his friends were killed and he developed a life long aversion to military life.[1]
After the war, Russell took up farming. Among his closest friends was Katharine Asquith, the widow of his old friend Raymond Asquith. In 1927, Russell took a lease of a farm on her family estate (Mells Manor, in Somerset) and there he remained for most of the remainder of his life. Having once unsuccessfully proposed marriage to Mrs Asquith, he subsequently devoted himself to purportedly chaste (if flirtatious) love affairs with Diana Cooper and Daphne Thynne, both of them married and rather younger than him.[1]
