After 34 years of quiet, steadfast service, Ian Russell, Registrar and Seneschal of the Cinque Ports Confederation, lays down the pen that has traced so much of the Confederation’s modern story. To mark his retirement, representatives from 13 Cinque Ports towns along with the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, attended a special dinner at the Mermaid Inn in Rye on Friday 13 February.
Ian received many good wishes and presents and Sir George said that he felt Ian’s wife, Marcia, should have received a medal too because of her unwavering support throughout.
Ian’s retirement marks not simply the close of a career, but the turning of a page in the long chronicle of the Cinque Ports, those 14 ancient towns of Kent and East Sussex, whose charters are full of memories of ships, service and sovereign duty.
Appointed in 1991 as Joint Solicitor to the Confederation, he became, over time, one of its surest foundations. In 2005, elevated by Lord Boyce to the offices of Registrar of the Court of Chancery and Admiralty, Seneschal, and Clerk of Dover Castle, he stepped fully into the living current of history — not as the figure in front of the banners, but as the steady hand ensuring they were raised at the right moment.
He served three successive Lords Wardens of the Cinque Ports: Queen Elizabeth, the
Queen Mother, with her instinctive understanding of tradition; Lord Boyce, naval to
his bones; and today’s Lord Warden, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, whose life has been
anchored in service, and who has spoken warmly of Ian’s rare precision and discipline.
“He is the authority,” Sir George has said, “on the history, the politics, the very function of the Lord Warden and the Cinque Ports – and more than that, a man who has cared deeply for the towns themselves: for Dover and Hastings, for Sandwich and Hythe, for New Romney and, of course, for the ancient towns of Rye and Winchelsea, and all the other communities that are part of the Confederation.”
Honours followed duty when, in 2016 he was appointed as a Member of the Royal
Victorian Order by Elizabeth II and 10 years later in the New Year’s Honours made a
Lieutenant – recognition not sought, but richly deserved, and a testament to trust, loyalty, and unwavering service to sovereign and state.
As Ian Russell steps back from formal office, the sea will continue to move against the shingle, the maces will still gleam, and the ancient towns will gather as they have for centuries. Yet woven through their gatherings will remain his influence – precise, disciplined and deeply committed. He has been 34 years a faithful steward. Though a remarkable era closes, his legacy endures.
Image Credits: Kt bruce .