Russell, Dora Winifred Black

• Countess Russell

Dora Russell, educator, author and social reformer, was born in 1894 at Thornton Heath to Sir Frederick Black and his wife, Sarah, and educated at Girton College, Cambridge. She married Bertrand Russell on 27 September 1921. The couple had two children. Together they founded and ran Beacon Hill school, where their children began their educations. After her separation in 1932 followed by divorce in 1935, Dora Russell continued to operate the school.

She was active in many causes. In 1924 she founded the Workers' Birth Control Group and ran as the Labour candidate for Chelsea in the general election. She was a founding member of the National Council for Civil Liberties. She was one of organizers of the Women's Caravan of Peace in 1958. Dora Russell was also the author of several books, beginning with The Prospects for Industrial Civilization (1923), written jointly with Bertrand Russell. She published a three volume autobiography, The Tamarisk Tree (1977-1985). She died in Cornwall on 31 May 1986.

2015-5-25

W. Laufs