William Russell (1827-1888)
1889 Obituary [1]
The Hon. WILLIAM RUSSELL was born at Myreside, Elgin, on 13th March 1827, and died in Georgetown, Demerara, on 28th March 1888, at the age of sixty-one.
During his residence of forty-two years in British Guiana he was closely connected at one time or another with nearly every sugar estate in the colony, his opinion being highly valued by all planters, by whom he was colloquially styled the sugar king.
Amongst the mechanical improvements with which his name is chiefly associated is that of macerating and double-crushing the sugar cane, which thus far does not appear likely to be superseded by the new diffusion process.
Perhaps however his chief claim to the gratitude of his fellow colonists was the elaboration of a system of water supply for the principal districts under cultivation, including also the city of Georgetown and the populous villages of the east coast. The government of the colony has voted a large suns of money towards the erection of a statue in his memory, the first instance on record of such a testimonial to the worth of any public man in British Guiana.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1878.