Jack Russell Terrier in end of 1800 dress. Russell terriers were first bred by the Reverend Mr. John Russell, a parson and hunting enthusiast born in 1795. In his last year of university at Oxford he bought a small white and tan terrier bitch called Trump from the milk man. She was the basis for a breeding program to develop a terrier trained for hunting, but without the aggressiveness of common gun dogs. Because of their facial expressions, this breed has also been in popular demand in the entertainment industry.