Russell, John d.1820

Former hatmaker who was convicted of robbery in London in 1799. He arrived in Sydney on the Cormandel in 1802 and soon joined the early Sydney police force. In 1804 Russell was a suspect in the burglary of Mary Breeze's house on Back Row (modern day Phillip Street) and the subsequent murder of an investigating police officer Joseph Luker. He remained a police constable until at least 1817. In 1820 he was found hanged in a house near the Market Wharf and was found to have killed himself while insane.