John Russell acted as the President of Bengal Presidency from the year 1711 to 1713, in the erstwhile British India. Russell was also a renowned Colonial administrator of the British East India Company. He was appointed as the President of the province of Bengal on 4 March 1711 and was preceded by Anthony Weltden, who was also well known British administrator.

The Bengal Presidency was one of the 3 major Presidencies in British India, along with Bombay Presidency and Madras Presidency. It was originally comprised east and west Bengal and was a colonial region of the British Empire in India. The region included the territories of undivided Bengal like West Bengal, Tripura, Orissa, Meghalaya, Bihar, Assam and modern Bangladesh. The Bengal Presidency proper was founded with the signing of the treaties of 1765 between the Nawab of Oudh, the Mughal Emperor and the authorities of the British East India Company. As a result of this, the areas of Orissa, Bihar, Meghalaya and Bengal were placed under the administrative control of the British East India Company.

Bengal Presidency, unlike the British Provinces of Bombay and Madras, integrated the British territories located towards the north of the Central Provinces (now Madhya Pradesh), from the openings of the river Brahmaputra and the Ganges River. It also incorporated areas in British Punjab and the Himalayas as well. John Russell served in the position till 3 December 1713 and was succeeded by Robert Hedges, who acted as the President of the province of Bengal from 3 December 1713 to 12 January 1718.

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