089 Russell Square Invercargill, street scene 2018
Reason for the name
Russell Square Park and Walkway was named after the New Zealand Soldiers’ Club which was at 17 - 23 Russell Square, London during World War 1.
This central Invercargill square is named after Russell Square in London which was the site where NZ troops spent R&R and recuperated in WW1. It is not named in honour of the distinguished son of Hawke's Bay, Major General Sir Andrew (Guy) Hamilton Russell, KCMG.
Author: The Poppy Places Trust and Wendy McArthur, Archives Assistant Invercargill City Council
In 1921 the Invercargill RSA wrote to the Invercargill Borough Council proposing the RSA subsidise the wages of returned unemployed World War 1 soldiers to give them work on council schemes. A sum of money was handed over to council and about 40 men were employed by the Reserves Department. One project was to clear, level and improve the piece of land at the corner of Ness and Dalrymple Streets and Elles Road. The men then asked that the park be called Russell Square. The NZ Soldiers’ Club in London where the servicemen went to when on leave in London was at 17 Russell Square. The club described itself as: “open at all hours for the reception and accommodation of NZ soldiers. Fine billiard-room. Beds for 200 men. Canteen for light refreshments. Run by NZ ladies. Over three years the club housed, clothed and fed more than 100,000 NZ soldiers. To prevent the men being waylaid by “harpies and sharpers” almost all were met personally by the clubs committee as they disembarked from trains bringing them to London from France,
During WW2 the NZ government passed legislation to protect servicemen’s jobs to avoid the situation of the 1920s with large numbers of unemployed returned servicemen.
Russell Square in London is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. To the north is Woburn Place, and to the south-east is Southampton Row. Russell Square tube station is nearby to the north-east.
It is named after the surname of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford; the freehold remains with the Bedford Estate, though the square is managed by Camden Council. The gardens are Grade II-listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
In 2005, two terrorist bombings occurred near the square. One of the bombings was on a London Underground train between King's Cross St Pancras tube station and Russell Square tube station, and another was on a bus on Tavistock Square, near Russell Square. To commemorate the victims, flowers were laid at the square. In 2016 the Russell Square stabbing took place.
A unidentified media release relating to the naming of the square in copied here:
“RUSSELL SQUARE”
NAME OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED
Letter to Council
The following letter from the secretary of the Invercargill Returned Soldiers’ Association was before the City Council last evening:-
“I have been directed by my executive committee to ascertain if your council would be prepared to officially name the piece of reserve situated between Ness Street and Elles Road, and fronting Dalrymple Road, ‘Russell Square’. The reason for the request that this reserve be called ‘Russell Square’ is this: In about 1922 or 1923 the Invercargill Returned Soldiers’ Association handed over a sum of money to the City Council to be subsidized for the purpose of giving work to unemployed returned soldiers under the direction of the superintendent of reserves. About 40 returned soldiers were therefore employed in levelling and clearing up this particular area, and I understand from the returned soldiers who were working there at that time, that the name of ‘Russell Square’ in London was still fresh in their minds on account of the fact that the New Zealand Soldiers’ Club was situated in that locality. At this club men on leave used to congregate to renew acquaintances. In view of the fact that a large number of our returned men were working together on this particular reserve so soon after the war, they have naturally come to the conclusion that an appropriate name for this area would be Russell Square. I trust, therefore, that the above information will be sufficient to enable your council to accede to my committee’s request and that they will officially place on record the name of Russell Square for the abovementioned reserve”.
“The explanation of the name is rather different from what we were previously told. It seems a very appropriate name when the circumstances are explained”, said the Mayor, Mr John Miller.
On the motion of Councillor C.J.Brodrick the name was formally approved.
