{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=November 2016}} thumb|Russell Barton, MLA for Bourke '''Russell Barton''' (1830 – 30 June 1916) was a British-born Australian politician.
He was born at Penge to grazier Edmund Russell Barton and Sophia Russell.<ref name="Men of mark">{{cite book |url=https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/ncb/documents/Australian-Men-of-mark-Vol.1.pdf |title=Australian men of mark |publisher=Charles F Maxwell |year=1889 |editor1-last=Digby |editor1-first=Everard |volume=1 |location=Sydney |pages=225–227 |access-date=2022-09-28}}</ref> The family migrated to Adelaide in 1839, where Barton worked on cattle and sheep stations before becoming a carrier for a copper mine at Burra Burra. He went to the Victorian goldfields in the early 1850s and on his return bought land around Adelaide. In 1855 he married Jane McCulloch Davey (1833 - 1927), with whom he had eleven children;<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1927-07-12 |title=OBITUARY. MRS. RUSSELL BARTON. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16371111 |access-date=2025-11-21 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |pages=7}}</ref> one was William Wickstead Barton (1868 - 1924), mine manager and pastoralist.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Person:Barton, William Wickstead |url=https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Person:Barton,_William_Wickstead |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250713104300/https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Person:Barton,_William_Wickstead |archive-date=2025-07-13 |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Engineering Heritage Australia |language=en}}</ref>
His property was destroyed by fire in 1855, and he managed a number of sheep stations, including one on the Bogan River in New South Wales. He focused on his New South Wales properties from the 1860s and also speculated in mining.<ref name=":0">{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |title=Barton, Russell (1830–1916) |first=Bede |last=Nairn |volume=3 |year=1969 |id2=barton-russell-75 |accessdate=17 August 2020}}</ref>
He was one of the early owners of the Great Cobar mine, and also was involved in other mines at Nymagee and Broken Hill. He was a director of Mercantile Mutual Insurance Co. Ltd, Mutual Life Insurance Co., the British and Foreign Marine Insurance Co. Ltd, and was managing director of the Pastoral Finance Association Ltd.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1916-07-03 |title=LATE MR. RUSSELL BARTON. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15652463 |access-date=2024-10-28 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |pages=11}}</ref>
He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Bourke at the 1880 election,<ref name="Green 1880 Bourke">{{cite NSW election |year=1880 |district=Bourke |accessdate=17 August 2020}}</ref> holding the seat at the 1882,<ref name="Green 1882 Bourke">{{cite NSW election |year=1882 |district=Bourke |accessdate=17 August 2020}}</ref> and 1885 elections.<ref name="Green 1885 Bourke">{{cite NSW election |year=1885 |district=Bourke |accessdate=17 August 2020}}</ref> He resigned his seat in December 1886,<ref name="Russell Barton NSW Parl" /> and a by-election was held, however parliament was dissolved before the writ was returned.<ref name="Green 1887 Bourke">{{cite NSW election |year=1887 |district=Bourke |accessdate=17 August 2020}}</ref>
He died, on {{Death date and age|1916|6|30|1830|df=y}}, at what was then part of Five Dock,<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Russell Barton NSW Parl">{{Cite NSW Parliament |id=610 |name=Mr Russell Barton (1830-1916) |former=Yes |access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref> now Russell Lea, a suburb of Sydney. The suburb takes its name from Barton's grand Italianate house and its 60 acres of land, 'Russell Lea Manor', also known as 'Russell Lea House'.<ref>''The Book of Sydney Suburbs'', Compiled by Frances Pollon, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia {{ISBN|0-207-14495-8}}, pages 87 & 104</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-20 |title=Russell Lea Manor – City of Canada Bay Heritage Society |url=https://canadabayheritage.asn.au/russell-lea-manor/ |access-date=2025-11-21 |language=en-AU}}</ref> As well as being Barton's first name, Russell was the maiden name of Russell Barton's mother.<ref name=":85">{{Citation |last=Nairn |first=Bede |title=Russell Barton (1830–1916) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barton-russell-75 |access-date=2024-10-28 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-par|au-nsw-la}} {{s-new|seat}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for Bourke | years=1880–1886 |with=none |with2=Richard Machattie/William Sawers}} {{s-aft|after=Thomas Waddell<br>Alexander Wilson}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Russell}} Category:1830 births Category:1916 deaths Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Category:British emigrants to Australia