Give a brief life-sketch of Bertrand Russell.

Ans.

Bertrand Russell was born on May 18, 1872, at Ravenscroft in Monmouthshire. He was born in a high reputed family. He was the second son of Viscount Amberley. His mother Katherine, was the daughter of Baron Stanley of Aderley. She died of diphtheria in 1874 when Bertrand was two years old. His father died twenty months later. His grandfather Lord John Russell was a famous Liberal statesman. He introduced the First Reform Bill in 1832 and he became twice Prime Minister of Britain, from 1846 to 1852 and from 1865 to 1866. Bertrand’s mother’s father was also liberal politician. At the age of three, Russell was orphan. He was brought up by his grandfather.

The child Russell and his elder brother Frank, were left to the care of their grandmother. Russell’s grandparents lived at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park. The grandfather was then eighty-three years of age, and he was to live only three years longer. But the grandmother, who was twenty three years younger than her husband, lived until 1898. Russell’s grand mother was a religious woman. She exercised a great influence on Bertrand Russell during his childhood and adolescence. She wanted her precocious grandson to take up some political career. She was more radical in politics than her husband. Russell inherited both her radicalism and her moral fervour though he rejected many of her other views. Russell was brought up in an atmosphere of Puritan piety and austerity. On his 12th birthday the grandmother gave Russell a copy of the Bible which remained with him upto the last.

His primary education was completed at home. He was educated at home by governesses and tutors. At the age of eleven, he was given his first geometry lesson and he was disappointed to learn that the subject proceeded from axioms which had to be accepted without proof. He was sent to a grammar school to learn Latin and Greek. At the age of 18, he won the open scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1890, he went upto Cambridge and from then on, things went well with him. He quickly made friends. He was placed seventh wrangler in the mathematical Tripos of 1893, but he was already feeling more interested in philosophy. He spent another year in order to read for the second part of the Moral Science.

In 1889, Russell met a girl called Alys Pearsall Smith and fell in love with her. She was a sister of the writer Logan Pearsall Smith. She was five years older than he and came from a family of American Quakers. Russell’s grandmother disapproved of the romance. She sought for Russell the post of an honorary attach in the British Embassy and sent him away. In this way, she tried to divert his mind. But Russell returned home and he found the new job quite boring. He married Alys in 1894. Russell believed in the practice of free love and himself had four marriages. He was separated from his first wife. Alys in 1911, but he was granted divorce in 1921. By 1910 or 1911 he had fallen in love with Lady Ottoline Morrel who was the wife of a Liberal politician, and his affair with her went on for a few years. In 1921, he married Dora Black. The marriage ended in 1935 and in 1936, he got married to Patricia Spence. The marriage broke up in 1942. In 1936, Russell met Lady Constance Malleson who was the wife of the actor Miles Malleson, and they soon became lovers. In 1952, he married an American woman called Edith Finch with whom he was happier than with any of his previous wives. His fourth wife was a teacher and writer of repute.

In 1920, Bertrand Russell visited Russia and found out that the Bolsheviks were remarkably similar to the Puritans. In Russia, he had a talk with Lenin when Russell said that it might be possible to achieve socialism in England without bloodshed. Later in 1920, he went to China. When he reached China he got a warmth and encouraging welcome. In Peking, the students of university were overpowered with joy to see him there. The students launched a special ‘Russell Magazine’. Russell delivered constant lectures in draughty halls, so he fell desperately ill. He was nursed back to health by his devoted companion Dora. In 1938, Russell delivered his lectures at Chicago and California universities. In 1940, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at City College, New York. In 1949, Russell was awarded the order of Merit and in the same year he was made an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy and invited by the B.B.C. to give the first series of Reith Lectures which were published under the title of Authority and the Individual. Shortly after, he returned to England. In 1950, he was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature.

On 31st January, 1970. Russell issued a statement which condemned Israeli aggression in the Middle East and called for Israeli withdrawal from territory occupied in 1967. This was Russell’s final ever political statement or act. It was read out at the international conference of Parliamentarians in Cairo on 3rd February, 1970, the day after his death. The next day, on Ist February, he spent at his home. However, on the morning of 2nd February Russell said that he did not feel well and remained in bed until just before noon. That evening whilst reading, he suddenly fell ill. His wife and nurse, after calling his doctor, got him to bed and gave him oxygen, but it was in vain. Russell died of influenza. Upon his death, his peerage descended on his eldest son, John. He was cremated at Colwyn Bay on 5 February, 1970.

His Principal Works

Philosophical Works: The Principles of Mathematics (1903), Principia Mathematica (1910-13), The Problems of Philosophy (1912). Mysticism and Logic (1917). The Analysis of Mind (1921), The Analysis of Matter (1927), History of Western Philosophy (1945). Logic and Knowledge (1956).

Political and Social Works: Principles of Social Reconstruction (1916), Roads to Freedom (1918). On Education (1926). Sceptical Essays (1928), Marriage and Morals (1929), The Conquest of Happiness (1930), Power (1938), Authority and the Individual (1949), Unpopular Essays (1950), New Hopes for A Changing World (1951).

Biological Works: The Amberley Papers (1937), Portraits from Memory (1956), Autobiography (in three volumes) (1967-69).