Edward Russell, 2nd Baron Russell of Liverpool
Edward Frederick Langley Russell, 2nd Baron Russell of Liverpool CBE, MC (10 April 1895 – 8 April 1981), known as Langley Russell, was a British soldier, lawyer, historian and writer. Early life, family and education. Russell was the son of Richard Henry Langley Russell, second son of Edward Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Liverpool, and succeeded his grandfather to the title in 1920. He was educated at Liverpool College and St John's College, Cambridge (1913–1914). Military service. World War I. He left Cambridge to join the British Army soon after the outbreak of  war. He served with distinction in the First World War, winning the Military Cross three times. Legal career. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1931, but never developed a substantial practice on the Oxford circuit. He developed a career in the Judge Advocate's office from the early 1930s. World War II. He became Deputy Judge Advocate General (United Kingdom) to the British Army of the Rhine in 1945. He was one of the chief legal advisers during war-crimes proceedings, for both the Nuremberg trials and the Tokyo tribunal, held following the end of  the Second World War. He was honoured with the CBE, Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Writings. He resigned from his government post over the publication of his book "The Scourge of the Swastika: A Short History of Nazi War Crimes". The "Daily Express", under proprietor Lord Beaverbrook, published extracts under the heading "the book they tried to ban" in 1954, and the book became a bestseller. Russell was accused of misusing his position to profit personally from the war crimes he had investigated. Russell followed up this work in 1958 with "The Knights of Bushido: A Short  History of Japanese War Crimes". In 1959 he and Bertrand Russell, the celebrated mathematician and philosopher, sent a joint letter to "The Times" explaining that they were different people. A6 murder case. Lord Russell became involved in investigating the sensational A6 murder in rural Bedfordshire in August 1961 and the long-running debate that followed it. He wrote the book "Deadman's Hill: Was Hanratty Guilty?" in 1965, which asserted wrongful conviction in the case. Lord Russell and his wife suffered significant harassment, in the form of frequent anonymous telephone calls, from Peter Louis Alphon, who had been an early  suspect in the murder, before James Hanratty was found guilty and hanged in April 1962. Alphon was convicted and fined for this harassment, and his long-running involvement in the matter has remained controversial. This case has continued to attract significant interest, with several further books, articles and television programmes investigating it, with many asserting Hanratty's wrongful conviction, and some key aspects are still unclear. Death. Lord Russell of Liverpool died in April 1981, a few days short of his 86th birthday, and was succeeded to the barony by his grandson Simon Russell, as his only son Captain the  Hon. Langley Gordon Haslingden Russell had predeceased him. Works. Books in which Edward Russell, 2nd Baron Russell of Liverpool contributed a foreword or an introduction: