Earl Russell
Encyclopedia
Kingston Russell
Kingston Russell is a large mansion house and manor near Long Bredy in Dorset, England, west of Dorchester. The present house dates from the late 17th century but in 1730 was clad in a white Georgian stone facade. The house was restored in 1913, and at the same time the gardens were laid out...
in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...
. It was created on 30 July 1861 for the prominent Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
. He was Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
from 1835 to 1839, Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
from 1852 to 1853 and 1859 to 1865 and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
from 1846 to 1852 and 1865 to 1866. Russell was made Viscount Amberley, of Amberley in the County of Gloucester and of Ardsalla in the County of Meath, at the same time he was given the earldom. A member of the prominent Russell family, he was the third son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford KG, PC, LLD, FSA , known as Lord John Russell until 1802, was a British Whig politician and notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Ministry of All the Talents...
.
He was succeeded by his grandson, the second Earl, the eldest son of John Russell, Viscount Amberley
John Russell, Viscount Amberley
John Russell, Viscount Amberley was the eldest son of John Russell, 1st Earl Russell. As such, from 1861 he took his father's junior title of Viscount Amberley, but he did not live to inherit the earldom; this passed, after his death, to his eldest son John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell...
. Lord Russell was one of the first peers to join the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and held office under Ramsay Macdonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
as Under-Secretary of State for India
Under-Secretary of State for India
This is a list of Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State and Permanent Under-Secretaries of State at the India Office during the period of British rule between 1866 and 1948, and for Burma from 1858-1948....
from 1929 to 1931. He was childless and was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Earl, the famous philosopher universally known as Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
. His younger son, the fifth Earl (who succeeded his half-brother in 1987), was a noted historian of 17th century England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Russell also sat on the Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
benches in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and was one of the ninety elected hereditary peers that were allowed to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;...
. the titles are held by his eldest son, the sixth Earl, who succeeded in 2004. As a descendant of the sixth Duke of Bedford he is also in remainder to this peerage and its subsidiary titles.
The eldest son of the earl, the heir apparent to the earldom, normally bears the junior title, Viscount Amberley, as a courtesy title
Courtesy title
A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer. These styles are used 'by courtesy' in the sense that the relatives do not themselves hold substantive titles...
. The eldest son of the first Earl died before his father and so never inherited the earldom, and when "Viscount Amberley" is used without further qualification it is often in reference to him.
Earls Russell (1861)
- John Russell, 1st Earl RussellJohn Russell, 1st Earl RussellJohn Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
(1792–1878)- John Russell, Viscount AmberleyJohn Russell, Viscount AmberleyJohn Russell, Viscount Amberley was the eldest son of John Russell, 1st Earl Russell. As such, from 1861 he took his father's junior title of Viscount Amberley, but he did not live to inherit the earldom; this passed, after his death, to his eldest son John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell...
(1842–1876)
- John Russell, Viscount Amberley
- John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl RussellFrank Russell, 2nd Earl RussellJohn Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell known as Frank Russell, was the elder surviving son of Viscount Amberley and his wife the Honourable Katharine Stanley, and was raised by his paternal grandparents after his non-conventional parents both died young...
(1865–1931) - Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl RussellBertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
(1872–1970) - John Conrad Russell, 4th Earl RussellJohn Russell, 4th Earl RussellJohn Conrad Russell, 4th Earl Russell was the eldest son of the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell and his second wife, Dora Black...
(1921–1987) - Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl RussellConrad Russell, 5th Earl RussellConrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl Russell was a British historian and politician. His parents were the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell and Patricia Russell...
(1937–2004) - Nicholas Lyulph Russell, 6th Earl RussellNicholas Russell, 6th Earl RussellNicholas Lyulph Russell, 6th Earl Russell , styled Viscount Amberley between 1987 and 2004, is the elder son of Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell and Elizabeth Russell...
(b. 1968)
The heir presumptive
Heir Presumptive
An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...
is the present holder's younger brother, the Hon. John Francis Russell (b. 1971)
See also
- Duke of Bedford (1694 creation)Duke of Bedfordthumb|right|240px|William Russell, 1st Duke of BedfordDuke of Bedford is a title that has been created five times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 in favour of Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of France. He was made Earl of Kendal at the same time...
- Baron AmpthillBaron AmpthillBaron Ampthill, of Ampthill in the County of Bedford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 March 1881 for the diplomat Lord Odo Russell. He was the third son of Major-General Lord George Russell, second son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford...
- Earl of Orford (1697 creation)Earl of OrfordEarl of Orford is a title that has been created three times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1697 in favour of the naval commander Edward Russell, who served three times as First Lord of the Admiralty. He was created Baron Shingay and Viscount Barfleur at the same time...