John Russell (1788-1873)
John Russell (c.1788-1873)was a British colliery owner and ironmaster, who had extensive industrial interests especially in the South Wales valleys in the mid-nineteenth century. He was High Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1855
He developed commercial interests in the Russell and Brown Risca Coal and Iron Joint Company, John Russell and Co., Blaina Iron Works, and later the South Wales Colliery Co.
In 1836, John Russell and Co. bought Waunfawr Colliery near Risca with a site of 1,000 acres (400 ha), and in 1841 had a new mineshaft, known as Black Vein, sunk there. In partnership with Thomas Brown, he also took over the Blaina Iron Works in 1839. Many of his interests in South Wales were developed in partnership with George Randle Hookey of Ludlow (1808-1877), who in 1840 married Russell's daughter Susanna.