Born at Chartham, Farningham, Kent on 2 September 1860, the younger son of James Russell, a farmer, and Ellen Phillips, his wife. He was educated at King's College and at King's College Hospital. He filled the post of resident accoucheur under Dr William Playfair and was the last house surgeon to serve under Lord Lister. He then acted for two years as house surgeon at the Salop Infirmary, Shrewsbury, and afterwards spent some time in the continental hospitals. He settled in Melbourne in 1889 and remained there in continuous practice until 1928, becoming consulting surgeon to the Alfred Hospital and to the Children's Hospital. Being in England at the outbreak of war in 1914 he joined the British Expeditionary Force; he returned to Australia in 1918, and became attached to the military hospitals at St Kilda Road and Caulfield. He died unmarried, after a motor accident, on 30 April 1933. Russell exercised a powerful influence for good in Melbourne. Lord Lister had inspired him with zeal for research, and Russell's original work soon brought him into prominence in Melbourne. He identified himself at first with the treatment of hernia, and he afterwards did important work on fractures. In recognition of his work on behalf of the Alfred Hospital, the new community block was named after him the Hamilton Russell House; a bust stands at the entrance to the Hospital, and a life mask has been placed in the Institute of Anatomy at Canberra. In 1927 he took an active part in the formation of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, was a member of its first council, and at the time of his death was censor-in-chief of the College and was in control of admissions to the Fellowship. As a tribute to his work on behalf of surgery the Fellows of the College presented him in 1931 with his portrait painted by George Lambert. Publications: Saccular theory of hernia. *Lancet*, 1906, 2, 1197, etc. Treatment of urethral stricture by excision. *Brit J Surg* 1914-15, 2, 375. Inguinal herniae; their varieties, mode of origin, and classification. *Ibid* 1921-22, 12, 502. A tape measure study: cause of shortening in fracture of the femur. *J Coll Surg Austral* 1928-29, 1, 365.