# R. Russell

## Biography

Robert Vane Russell was a British civil servant and ethnologist born on August 8, 1873, in Weymouth, Dorset, England. Educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge, he joined the Indian Civil Service in 1893, serving in the Central Provinces. Russell became widely known for his significant contributions as the Superintendent of Census Operations for the 1901 Census of India and later as the Superintendent of Ethnography for the Central Provinces and Berar. In this role, he oversaw extensive ethnographic surveys. His most notable work is the multi-volume "The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India," published posthumously in 1916 with the assistance of Rai Bahadur Hira Lal. This comprehensive study documented the social organization, customs, and origins of numerous castes and tribes in the region. Russell tragically died at sea on December 30, 1915, at the age of 42, when the SS Persia, on which he was traveling back to India, was torpedoed by a German U-boat during World War I.

## Books

- [The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 1](https://samolit.com/books/96415)