No . 132 The Trusty Servant
In other ways he was quite unusual . Raised a radical , he had become something of a rebel and would , over the next 30-odd years , become a thorn in the side of the House of Lords in determinedly pressing their lordships to embrace the inevitability of reform sweeping in with the modern age . His presence in College on the afternoon of the ‘ tableau ’ was explained by his having always been a particular favourite of Mrs Dick ’ s . In her diary , she described him at 16 as ‘ very queer , but to my mind most loveable ’ with ‘ a melancholy expression about the eyes ’. At 31 he was little different unless somewhat more cynical about the hand life had subsequently dealt him .
He left Winchester for Balliol in 1883 and there he associated with a group his people would have called the ‘ wrong crowd ’. ‘ The Unconventionals ’ they called themselves : ‘ a sort of Buddhistical , Theosophical , neo-Platonic , Walt- Whitmaniac , Brotherhood of Man cult ’ that shunned orthodoxy from a sense of moral superiority , generally shocked the authorities in their ‘ outdated bigotry ’ by exhibiting a certain affectation and swanning about Oxford in loose sack coats and straw boaters , sporting flowers in their lapels . It would only be a matter of time before they attracted the attention of the dons , ‘ keen-scented after vice ’ and suspicious of anything that seemed ‘ improper ’. Two were ultimately rusticated ; Frank was sent down .
His crime remains something of a mystery but like most mysteries it hung around him like a miasma . Ostensibly he was alleged to have written an immoral letter to another undergraduate , though the letter was never produced and Frank was denied an enquiry . He left Oxford incensed at the injustice and embarked on what was later described as ‘ two years of wild follies ’ aboard his steam-yacht before marrying ( unwisely , as it turned
Lord Russell , c . 1901
out ) the second daughter of the 3rd Baronet Scott , Mabel Edith .
The marriage was a disaster . The pair fought like cat and dog . After four months Mabel declared she could live with Frank no longer , after nine she filed for a legal separation and in December 1891 they found themselves battling it out in the Divorce Court .
Though its name might suggest otherwise , the Victorian divorce court was not in the habit of unmarrying couples . Only a wife ’ s adultery could secure a husband a full divorce ; and a wife must prove her husband ’ s aggravated adultery – that is , adultery compounded by a lesser crime , such as cruelty or desertion . Each case was heard at the Royal Courts of Justice . The court was open to the public and extensive press reporting was encouraged as a deterrent . In the Russells ’ case , Mabel had little to accuse Frank of , having lived with him such a short time , and Frank considered most of her complaints puerile : he grabbed me by the wrist , he threw me to the ground , he called me nasty names , etc . But one complaint would turn their case into a ten-year cause célèbre : Frank , Mabel alleged , preferred the company of men .
Unremarkable though this might seem for the average Victorian gentleman schooled in and frequenting allmale environments , in the hands of barristers armed with the stigma of Frank ’ s sending-down it became something else entirely . Homosexuality was then reviled and punishable by anything from two years ’ imprisonment to ten years ’ penal servitude . Suddenly , Frank found himself defending allegations of potential criminality in the only known Victorian divorce case to involve such . No wonder it was big news . But add to the plot a vindictive mother-in-law , whose performance in court was nothing short of Wildean , and the drama , already desperate and tragic , suddenly became farcical . Out of the depths of Frank ’ s youthful ‘ wild follies ’ Lady Scott dragged tales of sexual intrigue with the crew of his yacht and circulated them widely , the most damaging being an alleged assault on a cabin boy near the railway station in Winchester . Frank sued for criminal libel and in November 1896 found himself centre-stage at the Old Bailey , where 18 months earlier Wilde had met his downfall . A clique of friends gathered in his defence ; among them the faithful Mrs Dick who privately pronounced , ‘ We would perjure ourselves for him ’. The question was , did she ?
This incredible tale of misadventure , its resolution and impact on the life of Frank Russell are explored in Bertrand ’ s Brother : The Marriages , Morals and Misdemeanours of Frank , 2nd Earl Russell ( Amberley , 2021 ). For more information visit my website : www . ruthderham . com .
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