Russell Rea MP - (1846 - 1916) - Mr Rea was a well known ship-owner hailing from Liverpool and became a Liberal Party politician representing Gloucester, in the period 1900 to 1910, and South Shields, from 1910 to 1916.

During the 1890s, he founded the ship-owning and merchant company of R. & J. H. Rea in Liverpool. The company expanded its fields of operation and had offices at Cardiff, Southampton, Bristol, and Newcastle-on-Tyne. Mr Rea was the senior director of the main company, its subsidiaries and was also became the deputy-chairman of the Taff Vale Railway Company. He was author the book 'Free Trade in Being' published in 1908 and his wife, Jane, was a founding member of the West London Ethical Society. [000] [002]