Katherine Russell

Katherine Frances Russell (; 6 April 1909 – 9 July 1998) was an English social worker and university teacher. She began working as a volunteer for the Time and Talents settlement in Bermondsey and supported families affected by illness, poverty, slum housing and overcrowding. Russell was employed as the community service organiser on Lewisham's Honor Oak housing estate in 1937 and became the warden of the mixed-sex Archers Youth Centre in Southampton during the Second World War. She was appointed the chief administrator of five one-year emergency courses run by the Institute of Almoners in 1945 before becoming a practical work organiser and then as a senior lecturer of the London School of Economics (her alma mater) from 1949 to 1973. Russell was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1976. Early life On 6 April 1909, Russell was born at 20 Southwell Gardens in Kensington, London, the eldest daughter of seven children (of which she was the second) born to Francis Hugh Stewart, a partner in Gladstone, Wyllie & Co., merchant, and his wife Frances Henrietta. When she was five years old, she was sent home from India to attend a boarding school, and did not see her parents until the conclusion of the First World War. Russell's father died in 1921 and her mother became the organising secretary of the St Pancras Housing Association to support her children. She attended the independent all-girls boarding school Downe House School, and left when she was 18 years old. Russell began working as a volunteer for the Time and Talents settlement that was located in the impoverished dockside area of Bermondsey, providing support in one of London's poorest places by doing youth work, organised children's clubs and giving help to families affected by illness, poverty, slum housing and overcrowding. In 1931, she enrolled at the London School of Economics (LSE) and did a Certificate in Social Science under the tutelage of Eileen Younghusband. Russell earned the certificate in 1933. Career Although it was her intention to become a nurse, she went back to the Time and Talents settlement and became the warden of its Dockhead youth club in 1933 in the development of community work. Russell was employed by the London Voluntary Service Council in 1937 as the organiser of community service on the Honor Oak housing estate in Lewisham.