Family and Education

b. c.1643, 4th but 1st surv. s. of Sir William Russell, 5th Earl and 1st Duke of Bedford by Lady Anne Carr, da. and h. of Robert, 1st Earl of Somerset; bro. of Hon. James, Hon. Robert and Hon. William Russell. educ. privately (John Thornton); travelled abroad (France, Italy, Germany, Low Countries) 1660-6; Padua 1664. m. 1 Aug. 1688, Frances (d. 23 July 1694), da. of Sir Robert Williams, 2nd Bt. of Penrhyn, Caern., wid. of Richard Lloyd of Esclus, Denb., s.p. styled Lord Edward Russell 11 May 1694.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Beds. and Devon 1679-80, 1689-90, Mdx. and Caern. 1689-90; j.p. Beds. by 1687-Feb. 1688, Oct. 1688-?d.; custos rot. Caern. 1689-?d.; asst. Mines Co. 1693; conservator, Bedford level 1696-d.; col. of militia horse, Beds. by 1697-?1700; ld. lt. Mdx. 1700-2.2

Treas. of the chamber 1693-1702.3

Biography

Russell was apparently more deeply affected than his brothers by the Presbyterian doctrines of the family tutor. He kept an ejected minister as his chaplain and his marriage was arranged by a prominent nonconformist divine. Previously his allowance had been under £400 p.a., and most of his life was spent in obscurity. He served for the family borough of Tavistock in the Exclusion Parliaments. In 1679 Shaftesbury marked him ‘honest’, and he was named to the committee of elections and privileges, and voted for the exclusion bill. He took no known part in the next two Parliaments, and in 1685 was defeated both for Tavistock and Bedfordshire. He was returned to the Convention for the county, and may have been the ‘Sir Edward Russell’ appointed to the committee for reversing the attainder of his brother William. The other references in the Journals are probably to his namesake and cousin; but he supported the disabling clause in the bill to restore corporations, and remained a court Whig under William III. He died on 30 June 1714 and was buried at Chenies.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Leonard Naylor

Notes

• 1. G. Scott Thomson, Life in a Noble Household, 96-110; HMC 7th Rep. 505; HMC Portland, iii. 552.
• 2. CSP Dom. 1689-90, p. 271; 1693, p. 207; S. Wells, Drainage of the Bedford Level, i. 476-85; Luttrell, iv. 708; Eg. 1626, f. 4.
• 3. Luttrell, iii. 60; v. 163.
• 4. D. R. Lacey, Dissent and Parl. Pols. 441; J. H. Wiffen, Hist. Mems. House of Russell, ii. 222; Le Neve, Mon. Angl. 1700-15, p. 289.