George Warren Russell

George Warren Russell was a New Zealand politician from Christchurch. He served as Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Public Health in the wartime National government, and was responsible for the New Zealand governments response to the 1918 influenza epidemic.

Russell was born in London, England, in 1854. His father was a bricklayer and builder. The family emigrated to Tasmania when he was still a child, and then moved again to New Zealand in 1864. Russell worked as an apprentice journalist, before trying to become a Wesleyan Methodist minister. When that was unsuccessful, he returned to journalism, working on the Evening Chronicle in Wellington and founding the Manawatu Herald in Foxton. He moved to Christchurch in 1889. In 1898, he took over the Spectator, a magazine he would edit until 1928.

Source: Wikipedia