Russell Ellice

Russell Ellice (6 June 1799 – 15 September 1873) was a British businessman who was Chairman of the East India Company and one of the first Directors of the British American Land Company. Ellice was also a Director of the first New Zealand Company and also the second New Zealand Company Ellice was also a Governor of North American Colonial Association of Ireland and subsequently Chairman. Personal life Russell Ellice was born in 1799 in Bath, Somerset, the fifth son of Scottish parents Alexander Ellice and Ann Russell. He was baptised 2 July 1799 at St Mary's Church in Bathwick. He was one of 10 children; He was the younger brother of merchant Edward Ellice. Russell Ellice lived at Brickendonbury Manor in Hertfordshire, where he died on 15 September 1873. Ellice was married to Harriet Chaplin on 21 July 1826 in London. Harriet died in Hertfordshire in 1882. Career In 1825 Ellice was a director of the New Zealand Company, a venture chaired by the wealthy John George Lambton, Whig MP (and later 1st Earl of Durham), that made the first attempt to colonise New Zealand. Edward Ellice was also on the board. In 1832 Ellice, together with Nathaniel Gould, was responsible for the largest land deal in Lower Canada, when the British Government sold, for £110,321, over one million acres in the Eastern Townships to the British American Land Company, of which Ellice was a director. Edward Ellice was one of the promoters of the company.