Earl Russell

This article is about the title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. For the British prime minister, see John Russell, 1st Earl Russell.

Earl Russell, of Kingston Russell in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 30 July 1861 for the prominent Liberal politician Lord John Russell. He was Home Secretary from 1835 to 1839, Foreign Secretary from 1852 to 1853 and 1859 to 1865 and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and 1865 to 1866. At the same time as he was given the earldom of Russell, he was made Viscount Amberley, of Amberley in the County of Gloucester and of Ardsalla in the County of Meath. A member of the prominent Russell family, he was the third son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford.

Earl Russell
Arms: Argent, a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure on a chief sable three escallops of the first, the escallop in middle chief charged with a mullet sable; Crest: A Goat statant Argent, armed and unguled Or, sharged with a Mullet for difference; Supporters: Dexter: A Lion Gules, charged on the shoulder with a Mullet for difference; Sinister: An Heraldic Antelope Gules, armed, unguled, tufted, ducally gorged and chained Or, the chain refleced over the back, charged on the shoulder with a Mullet for difference. (Arms of the Duke of Bedford differenced in the manner appropriate to a third son)
Creation date	30 July 1861
Creation	First
Created by	Queen Victoria
Peerage	Peerage of the United Kingdom
First holder	John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
Present holder	John Francis Russell, 7th Earl Russell
Remainder to	the 1st Earl's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titles	Viscount Amberley
Status	Extant
Motto	CHE SERA SERA (What will be, will be)

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

The first Earl was succeeded by his grandson the second Earl, the eldest son of John Russell, Viscount Amberley. He was one of the first peers to join the Labour Party and he held office under Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald as Under-Secretary of State for India from 1929 to 1931. He was childless and was succeeded in 1931 by his younger brother, the third Earl, the famous philosopher and Nobel Prize winner universally known as Bertrand Russell. When he died in 1970 his eldest son, the fourth Earl held the title until his half-brother, the fifth Earl inherited it in 1987. He was a noted historian of 17th century England. Russell also sat on the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords 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. As of 2018 the titles are held by his youngest son, the seventh Earl, who succeeded his brother in 2014.

As descendants of the sixth Duke of Bedford, the Earls Russell are also in remainder to that peerage and its subsidiary titles.

Earls Russell (1861)

• John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878)
• John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell (1865–1931)
• Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (1872–1970)
• John Conrad Russell, 4th Earl Russell (1921–1987)
• Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl Russell (1937–2004)
• Nicholas Lyulph Russell, 6th Earl Russell (1968–2014)
• John Francis Russell, 7th Earl Russell (b. 1971)

There is no-one entitled to succeed to the earldom.

Family tree

Family tree: Earls of Bedford, Dukes of Bedford, Earls of Orford, and Earls Russell

King Edward III 1312–1377 John of Gaunt 1340–1399 Duke of Lancaster King Henry IV 1367–1413 Joan Beaufort c. 1379–1440 Countess of Westmorland Duke of Bedford (1st creation), 1414 Duke of Bedford (2nd creation), 1433 King Henry V 1386–1422 John of Lancaster 1389–1435 Duke of Bedford Dukedom of Bedford (1st creation) extinct, 1432 Dukedom of Bedford (2nd creation) extinct, 1435 Catherine of Valois 1401–1437 Owen Tudor 1400–1461 Cecily Neville 1415–1495 Duchess of York Richard Neville 1400–1460 5th Earl of Salisbury Duke of Bedford (5th creation), 1485 King Henry VI 1421–1471 Edmund Tudor c. 1430–1456 1st Earl of Richmond Jasper Tudor c. 1431–1495 Duke of Bedford King Edward IV 1442–1483 King Richard III 1452–1485 John Neville c. 1431–1471 1st Marquess of Montagu Dukedom of Bedford (5th creation) extinct, 1495 Duke of Bedford (4th creation), 1478 Duke of Bedford (3rd creation), 1470 King Henry VII 1457–1509 Elizabeth of York 1466–1503 George Plantagenet 1477–1479 Duke of Bedford George Neville c. 1457–1483 Duke of Bedford Baron Russell, 1539 Earl of Bedford (3rd creation), 1551 Dukedom of Bedford (4th creation) extinct, 1479 Dukedom of Bedford (3rd creation) extinct, 1478 John Russell c. 1485–1555 1st Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell Francis Russell 1527–1585 2nd Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, 1603 Edward Russell 1551–1572 Lord Russell John Russell c. 1553–1584 Lord Russell Francis Russell c. 1554–1585 Lord Russell William Russell c. 1558–1613 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Edward Russell 1572–1627 3rd Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell Francis Russell 1593–1641 4th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 2nd Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Duke of Bedford (6th creation) and Marquess of Tavistock, 1694 Baron Howland, 1695 William Russell 1616–1700 1st Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 5th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 3rd Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Edward Russell 1626–1665 Earl of Orford (1st creation), Viscount Barfleur and Baron of Shingay, in the County of Cambridge, 1697 Francis Russell 1638–1679 Lord Russell William Russell 1639–1683 Lord Russell Margaret Russell 1656–1702 Edward Russell 1652–1727 Earl of Orford Robert Walpole 1650–1700 Attainted, 1683 Earldom of Orford (1st creation) extinct, 1727 Earl of Orford (2nd creation), Viscount Walpole and Baron Walpole of Houghton in the County of Norfolk, 1742 Baron Walpole of Wolterton in the County of Norfolk Wriothesley Russell 1680–1711 2nd Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 5th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 6th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Robert Walpole 1676–1745 1st Earl of Orford, Viscount Walpole, and Baron Walpole of Houghton Horatio Walpole 1678–1757 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton Baron Walpole of Walpole in the County of Norfolk Earl of Orford (3rd creation), 1806 Wriothesley Russell 1708–1732 3rd Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 5th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 7th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh John Russell 1710–1771 4th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 8th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 6th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Robert Walpole 1701–1751 2nd Earl of Orford, Viscount Walpole, and Baron Walpole of Houghton, 1st Baron Walpole of Walpole Horace Walpole "Horatio" 1717–1797 4th Earl of Orford, Viscount Walpole, and Baron Walpole of Houghton, 3rd Baron Walpole of Walpole Maria Walpole 1725–1801 Horatio Walpole "the Younger" 1723–1809 1st Earl of Orford, 4th Baron Walpole of Walpole, 2nd Baron Walpole of Wolterton Earldom of Orford (2nd creation) extinct, 1797 Francis Russell 1739–1767 styled Marquess of Tavistock George Walpole 1730–1791 3rd Earl of Orford, Viscount Walpole, and Baron Walpole of Houghton, 2nd Baron Walpole of Walpole Francis Russell 1765–1802 5th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 9th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 7th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, 7th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh John Russell 1766–1839 6th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 10th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 8th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh William Russell 1767–1840 Sophia Churchill d. 1797 Horatio Walpole 1752–1822 2nd Earl of Orford, 5th Baron Walpole of Walpole, 3rd Baron Walpole of Wolterton Earl Russell and Viscount Amberley, 1861 Francis Russell 1788–1861 7th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 11th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 9th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh George William Russell 1790–1846 John Russell 1792–1878 1st Earl Russell Horatio Walpole 1783–1858 3rd Earl of Orford, 6th Baron Walpole of Walpole, 4th Baron Walpole of Wolterton Baron Ampthill, 1881 William Russell 1809–1872 8th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 12th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 10th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Francis Charles Hastings Russell 1819–1891 9th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 13th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 11th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Odo William Leopold Russell 1829–1884 1st Baron Ampthill John Russell 1842–1876 Viscount Amberley Horatio Walpole 1813–1858 4th Earl of Orford, 7th Baron Walpole of Walpole, 5th Baron Walpole of Wolterton Robert Walpole 1854–1931 5th Earl of Orford, 8th Baron Walpole of Walpole, 6th Baron Walpole of Wolterton Earldom of Orford (3rd creation) extinct, 1931 George William Francis Sackville Russell 1852–1893 10th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 14th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 12th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Herbrand Arthur Russell 1858–1940 11th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 15th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 13th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh John Francis Stanley Russell 1865–1931 2nd Earl Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell 1872–1970 3rd Earl Russell Hastings William Sackville Russell 1888–1953 12th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 16th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 14th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh John Ian Robert Russell 1917–2002 13th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 17th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 15th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh John Conrad Russell 1921–1987 4th Earl Russell Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell 1937–2004 5th Earl Russell Henry Robin Ian Russell 1940–2003 14th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 18th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 16th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Andrew Ian Henry Russell 15th Duke of Bedford, Marquess of Tavistock, and Baron Howland 19th Earl of Bedford and Baron Russell, 17th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh b. 1962 Nicholas Lyulph Russell 1968–2014 6th Earl Russell John Francis Russell b. 1971 7th Earl Russell Henry Robin Charles Russell b. 2005 styled Marquess of Tavistock

See also

• Duke of Bedford (1694 creation)
• Baron Ampthill
• Earl of Orford (1697 creation)

References

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages