PLACE NAME
One of a small cluster of streets named after Victorian Prime Ministers. John Russell (August 18, 1792 – May 28, 1878), often better known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell was a Liberal hero who twice served as Prime Minister. It was Russell who in 1832 moved the Great Reform Act, paving the way for an end to rule by the aristocracy and landed gentry. Under his premiership between 1846 and 1852 he secured social reforms such as funding teacher training and the passage of the Factories Act 1847, which restricted the working hours of women and children (aged 13–18) in textile mills to 10 hours per day. His reforms of church finances, however, proved less popular – at least with the church. When he lost to the Conservatives he was deposed as leader by his arch-rival Lord Palmerston who later went on to become Prime Minister himself. When Palmerston died in office 1865, Russell was chosen to replace him. But his second term failed to achieve the successes of his first and his Government soon fell apart. This was a time of rapid population growth in Buckhurst Hill, stimulated by the opening of the railway station in 1856. Nearly 600 new houses had been built near the station by 1871 leading to the opening of schools, churches and other facilities. In 1867 it became a separate ecclesiastical parish, having previously been part of Chigwell Parish.
