James Cholmeley Russell was a barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

, financier

Financier

Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...

, property developer and Welsh railway entrepreneur. He was a key shareholder

Shareholder

A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....

and the receiver of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company from which the Welsh Highland Railway Company ultimately emerged. He was a business associate of the engineer, Sir James Weeks Szlumper JP DL PJGD (1834-27 October 1926). He was involved at one time or another with various other railway schemes including the Manchester and Milford Railway, the Vale of Rheidol and a London railway. He was an alumnus of Harrow School (1855–1859)and graduate of Magdalene College, Oxford (1864)

There is more information on James Cholmeley Russell on an external blog web site at http://jamescholmeleyrussell.blogspot.com/