John Russell

Who was John Russell?

John "Jack" Russell, known as "The Sporting Parson", was an enthusiastic hunter and dog breeder as well as an ordained cleric.

Russell was born in Dartmouth, England, the eldest son of John Russell and Nora. He was educated at Plympton Grammar School, Blundell's School and Exeter College, Oxford. It was at Exeter College, legend has it, that he spotted a little white terrier dog with dark tan spots over her eyes, ears and at the tip of her tail, who was owned by a milkman. Russell bought the dog on the spot and this animal, called "Trump", became the foundation dog of a line of fox hunting terriers that would eventually come to be known as Jack Russell Terriers. Russell came to live in a village called Swimbridge in North Devon. After his death, the local public house was renamed the Jack Russell Inn; it still stands today.

Russell was a founding member of The Kennel Club. He helped to write the breed standard for the Fox Terrier and became a respected judge. He did not show his own fox terriers on the conformation bench, saying that the difference between his dogs and the conformation dogs could be likened to the difference between wild and cultivated flowers.