Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Archives

LAJ"ticles RELIGION IN THE RUSSELL FAMILY STEFAN ANDERSSON Theology and Religious Studies I University of Lund S-223 62 Lund, Sweden B ertrand Russell grew up with people who in most cases took their religion seriously and in sollie cases saw it as the most important aspect of their lives. Not much has been written about the importance of religion in the Russell family although good public sources have been available for a long time. This article is mainly an attempt to describe the religious views of Lord and Lady John Russell, Russell's father, and his brother Frank. Russell's own views on religion will not be the focal point of discussion. We know quite a lot about the religious beliefs and habits of the Victorians. Both Lord and Lady Russell were affected by the Evangelical spirit that swept through the Church of England, but although pious and solemn they were both liberal and undogmatic. We also know about how many honest doubters reacted to the beliefs and habits of their parents. The new theories in science and a new critical interpretation of the Bible were difficult to reconcile with orthodox beliefs concerning the creation, revelations, miracles, etc. Many were forced to make up their minds, and there were many who gave witness to their crisis of faith. Bertrand Russell's father and brother are two good examples of honest doubters. Bertrand Russell was a descendent of the English Whig aristocracy on his mother's side as well on his father's. His maternal grandfather was the second Lord Stanley" of Alderley. He was a Liberal politician who held minor offices in several governments. He died before Russell was born. His wife was Henrietta Maria, daughter ofViscount Dillon. Together they had four sons and five daughters. Lady Stanley lived until 1895 and Russell occasionally visited her when he was a boy. In russell: d,e Journal of me Bertrand Russcll Arenives MeMasrer University Library Press n.s. 13 (winter 1993-94): 117-49 ISSN 0036-01631 u8 STEFAN ANDERSSON an article from 1943 called "My Grandmother and Mr. Gladstone", subtitled "They Were the Most Frightening People I've Ever Known", he says that "My childhood and early youth were dominated by my two grandmothers, Lady Russell and Lady Stanley."! This is true as far as Lady Russell goes, but Lady Stanley's influence on him cannot witho~t exaggeration be compared to that of his paternal grandmother . Nevertheless she was an important person in Russell's early life, not least because her personality; her ideas were quite different compared to Lady Russell's. Russell writes about Lady Stanley in his Autobiography and in The Amberley Papers. He describes her as "an eighteenth century type, rationalistic and unimaginative, keen on enlightenment, and contemptuous ofVictorian goody-goody priggery" (Auto. I: 33). She was interested in popular science and read Huxley and Tyndall until old age.2 Her main public activity was related to women's education. She was one of the founders of Girton College with which she was concerned from its beginning until her death.3 The reason why Russell feared Lady Stanley was that "she had a caustic tongue, and spared neither age nor sex. I was always consumed with shyness while in her presence, and as none of the Stanleys were shy, this irritated her" (Auto. I: 32). Although Russell felt inhibited by Lady Stanley, he enjoyed the Sunday luncheons at her house where he met his aunts and uncles. They were a very different crowd compared to the Russell family. They were encouraged to debate openly the political and religious issues of the day, and in this way Russell was exposed to an intellectual openness that was different from the one at Pembroke Lodge. Russell writes, "At the Sunday luncheons there· would be vehement arguments, for among the daughters and sons-inlaw there were representatives of the Church of England, Unitarianism , and Positivism, to be added to the religions represented by the sons" (Auto. I: 34). One of her sons was a Mohammedan, another a freethinker, and one was a Roman Catholic priest (ibid). To have been exposed to such a variety of creeds probably stimulated...