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RUSSELL (FAMILY)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 862 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RUSSELL (See also:FAMILY) . The See also:great See also:English Whig See also:house of the Russells, earls and See also:dukes of See also:Bedford, See also:rose under the favour of See also:Henry VIII. Obsequious genealogists have traced their lineage from " See also:Hugh de Rozel," See also:alias " Hugh See also:Bertrand, See also:lord of le Rozel," a See also:companion of the Conqueror, See also:padding their fiction with the See also:pedigree of certain Russells who are found holding See also:Kingston Russell in See also:Dorset as See also:early as the reign of See also:King See also:John. But the first undoubted ancestor of the Bedford See also:line is Henry Russell, a See also:Weymouth See also:merchant, returned as a See also:burgess for that See also:borough in four parliaments between 1425 and 1442. He may well have been the son of See also:Stephen Russell, another Weymouth merchant, whose name is just before his in the See also:list of those men of substance in See also:Dorsetshire who, in 1434, under the See also:act of See also:parliament, were to be sworn not to maintain breakers of the See also:peace. Stephen Russell, having served the See also:office of See also:bailiff of Weymouth; was returned as burgess to the parliament of 1395, and one See also:William Russell was returned for King's See also:Melcombe in 1340. Both Stephen and Henry were in the See also:wine See also:trade with See also:Bordeaux, and in 1427 Henry Russell was See also:deputy to the See also:chief See also:butler of See also:England for the See also:port of Melcombe. In 1442 a See also:pardon under the privy See also:seal significantly describes Henry Russell of Weymouth, merchant, as alias Henry Gascoign, See also:gentleman, and it is therefore probable that the ducal house of Bedford springs from a family of Gascon wine-merchants settled in a port of Dorsetshire, a See also:county remarkable for the number of such See also:French settlers. Henry Russell of Weymouth made a See also:firm footing upon the See also:land by his See also:marriage with See also:Elizabeth Hering, one of the two daughters and co-heirs of John Hering of Chaldon Hering, a Dorsetshire See also:squire of old family, See also:heir of the Winterbournes of Winterbourne Clenston and of the Cernes of Draycot Cerne. John Russell, eldest son of this match, See also:born before 1432, and returned to parliament for Weymouth in 1450, had his seat at See also:Berwick in Swyre, he and his son and heir, See also:James Russell, being buried in the See also:parish See also:church of Swyre. Thus John Russell, son and heir of James, was born in a family of squire's See also:rank, whose younger branches went on for many generations as merchants and shipowners at Weymouth. A happy See also:accident is said to have brought him to See also:court.

The See also:

archduke See also:Philip, son of the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian, was driven by heavy See also:weather into Weymouth, whence See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Trenchard had him escorted to the king at See also:Windsor. According to tradition, John Russell, Trenchard's See also:young kinsman, was lately See also:home from his travels with a knowledge of See also:foreign See also:tongues, those travels being probably made in the See also:mercantile interests of his family. As travelling companion, or as a See also:spy upon the See also:strange guests, young Russell was sent with the archduke, who is said to have commended him to King Henry. Certain it is that on the See also:accession of Henry VIII. John Russell advanced rapidly, serving the See also:crown as soldier and as See also:diplomatic See also:agent. He fought well at Therouanne, saw the See also:Field of See also:Cloth of See also:Gold and the French disaster at See also:Pavia, lost an See also:eye by an arrow at See also:Morlaix. In 1523 he was See also:knight-See also:marshal of the king's See also:household. In 1526 he married a See also:rich widow, See also:Anne, daughter and co-heir of Sir See also:Guy Sapcotes by the co-heir of Sir Guy Wolston, a match which brought to the Russells the See also:Buckinghamshire See also:estate of Chenies, in whose See also:chapel many generations of them See also:lie buried. His See also:peerage as Lord Russell of Chenies dated from 1539, and in the same See also:year he had the Garter. Having held many high offices—lord high See also:admiral, lord See also:president of See also:Devon, See also:Cornwall, Dorset and See also:Somerset, and lord privy seal—he was named by Henry VIII. as one of his executors. At the crowning of See also:Edward VI. he was lord high steward, and after his defeat of the western rebels was raised, in 1550, to the earldom of Bedford. See also:Queen See also:Mary, like her See also:brother, made him lord privy seal, although he is said to have favoured that See also:Reformation which enriched him.

He died in See also:

London in 1555, leaving to his son a vast estate of church lands and lands forfeited by less successful navigators of the troubled See also:sea of Tudor politics. In the See also:west he had the See also:abbey lands of See also:Tavistock, which give a See also:marquess's See also:title to his descendants. In See also:Cambridgeshire he had the abbatial estate of Thorney, in See also:Bedfordshire the Cistercian house of See also:Woburn, now the chief seat of the Russells. In London he had Covent See also:Garden with the " See also:Long See also:Acre." Thus the future See also:wealth of his house was secured by.those " immoderate grants " which madea See also:text for See also:Edmund See also:Burke's furious attack upon a See also:duke of Bedford. He See also:left an only son, See also:Francis, second See also:earl of Bedford, K.G. (c. 1527-1585), who, being concerned in See also:Wyatt's See also:plot, escaped to the See also:Continent and joined those exiles at See also:Geneva whose religious sympathies he shared. He returned in 1557, and was employed by Queen Mary before her See also:death. Under Queen Elizabeth he governed Berwick, and was lord-See also:lieutenant of the See also:northern counties. Three of his four sons died before him, the third, killed in a border fray, being See also:father of Edward, third earl of Bedford, who died without issue in 1627. The See also:fourth son, William, created Lord Russell of Thornhaugh in 1603, was a soldier who fought fiercely before See also:Zutphen beside his friend Sir Philip See also:Sidney, whom he succeeded as See also:governor of See also:Flushing, and was from 1594 to 1597 lord-deputy of See also:Ireland. He died in 1613, leaving an only son, Francis, who in 1627 succeeded his See also:cousin as fourth earl of Bedford.

This earl built the square of Covent Garden, and headed the " undertakers " who began the See also:

scheme for draining the great Fen Level.. He op-posed the king in the House of Lords, but might have played a See also:part as mediator between the See also:sovereign and the popular party who accepted his leadership had he not died suddenly of the smallpox in 1641 on the See also:day of the king's assent to the See also:bill for See also:Strafford's See also:attainder. William, the eldest surviving son, succeeded as fifth earl, Edward, the youngest See also:soli, being father of Edward Russell (1653-1727), admiral of the See also:fleet, who, having held the chief command in the victory of La Hogue, was created in 1697 earl of See also:Orford. The fifth earl of Bedford, after fighting for the parliament at Edgehill and for the king at See also:Newbury, surrendered to See also:Essex and occupied himself with completing the drainage of the Bedford Level. He carried St Edward's See also:staff at the crowning of See also:Charles II., but quitted See also:political See also:life after the See also:execution of his son, Lord Russell, in 1683. In 1694 he was created duke of Bedford and marquess of Tavistock, titles to which his See also:grandson, Wrothesley Russell, succeeded in 1700. The " patriot " Lord Russell had added to the family estates by his marriage with See also:Rachel, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Wrothesley, the fourth earl of See also:Southampton, from whom she finally inherited the earl's See also:property in Bloomsbury, with Southampton House, afterwards called Bedford House. Her son, the second duke of Bedford, married the daughter of a rich See also:citizen, John Howland of See also:Streatham, a match strangely commemorated by the See also:barony of Howland of Streatham, created for the bridegroom's grandfather, the first duke, in 1695. The third duke, another Wrothesley Russell (1708-1732), died without issue, his brother John (1710-1771) succeeding him. This fourth duke, opposing Sir See also:Robert See also:Walpole, became, by See also:reason of his rank and territorial importance, a recognized See also:leader of the Whigs. In the duke of See also:Devonshire's See also:administration he was lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and he served as lord high See also:constable at the See also:coronation in 176o. His son Francis, styled marquess of Tavistock, was killed in 1767 by a fall in the See also:hunting field, and Lord Tavistock's son Francis (1765-1802) became the fifth duke.

This was the peer whom Burke, smarting from a See also:

criticism of his own See also:pension, assailed as " the See also:Leviathan of the creatures of the crown," enriched by grants that " outraged See also:economy and even staggered credibility." He pulled down Bedford House, built by Inigo See also:Jones, Russell Square and Tavistock Square rising on the site of its gardens and courts. Dying unmarried, he was succeeded by his brother John, the See also:sixth duke (1766-1839), whose third son was the statesman created in 1861, Earl Russell of Kingston Russell, better known as Lord John Russell. Lord See also:Odo Russell, a See also:nephew of " Lord John," and See also:ambassador at See also:Berlin from 1871 to his death in 1884, was created Lord See also:Ampthill in 1881. Herbrand See also:Arthur Russell (b. 1858), the See also:eleventh duke and fifteenth earl, succeeded an See also:elder brother in 1893. (O.

End of Article: RUSSELL (FAMILY)

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