Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/437

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

first lord of the admiralty. In June, in command of an allied fleet of some sixty-three sail of the line, he was sent to the Mediterranean, where the threat of his presence at once led the French, at the time off Barcelona, to retire to Toulon. As it was evident that the French attack on the Catalan coast would be renewed as soon as the English fleet departed, it was kept in the Mediterranean during the rest of the year, and wintered at Cadiz. In the spring of 1695 it again took up a station off Barcelona. In August an attempt was made to recover Palamos, which the French had occupied in the previous year; but on learning that a fleet of sixty sail lay at Toulon ready for sea, Russell re-embarked the troops, withdrew from Palamos, and sailed to meet the enemy, who, however, remained in Toulon. Russell's actions both in 1694 and 1695 are early instances of the recognition of the power of a fleet, not necessarily superior in force, to prevent territorial aggression (Colomb, Naval Warfare, pp. 271–2).

In the autumn of 1695 the fleet returned to England, and Russell had no further service afloat. He continued at the admiralty till 1699. He had represented Launceston (1689), Portsmouth (1690), and Cambridgeshire (1695) in the lower house; and on 7 May 1697 he was raised to the peerage as Baron of Shingey, Viscount Barfleur and Earl of Orford. During the king's absence in Holland in the summer of 1697, and again in the summer of 1698, he was one of the lords justices. In April 1706 he was appointed one of the commissioners for the union with Scotland; he was first lord of the admiralty from November 1709 to September 1710, and again from October 1714 to April 1717. He was also one of the lords justices after the death of Queen Anne, pending the arrival of George I, and in September 1714 was nominated lord-lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. He died on 26 Nov. 1727. He married in 1691 his cousin Mary, daughter of William Russell, first duke of Bedford, and sister of William, lord Russell, but, leaving no issue, the titles became extinct on his death. Orford is described in 1704 as ‘of a sanguine complexion, inclining to fat; of a middle stature.’ His portrait, by R. Bockman, is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich; another, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, has been engraved.

[Charnock's Biogr. Nav. i. 354; Campbell's Lives of the British Admirals, ii. 317, &c.; Burchett's Transactions at Sea; Burnet's Hist. of his own Time; Dalrymple's Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland; Memoirs relating to Lord Torrington (Camden Soc.); Life of Captain Stephen Martin (Navy Records Society); The Battle of La Hogue, in Quarterly Review, April 1893; Army and Navy Gazette, 21 May, 4 June, 6 Aug. 1892; Troude's Batailles Navales de la France, i. 209; Sue's Hist. de la Marine Française, v. 65–92.]

J. K. L.

RUSSELL, Lord EDWARD (1805–1887), admiral, born in 1805, second son of John Russell, sixth duke of Bedford by his second wife, Georgiana, fifth daughter of Alexander, fourth duke of Gordon [see under Russell, Lord John, first Earl Russell]. Lord John, first earl Russell [q. v.], was his half-brother. He entered the navy in January 1819; he passed his examination in 1825, and on 18 Oct. 1826 was promoted to be lieutenant of the Philomel brig, in which he was present at the battle of Navarino on 20 Oct. 1827. He was then for a short time in the Dartmouth, but, returning to the Philomel, was promoted from her to the rank of commander on 15 Nov. 1828. In November 1830 he was appointed to the Britomart, but in the following January was moved to the Savage, on the coast of Ireland, and in April 1832 to the Nimrod, on the Lisbon station. He was invalided from her in August 1833, and on 19 Nov. was advanced to post rank. From November 1834 to 1838 he commanded the Actæon in South America. From 1841 to 1847 he was M.P. for Tavistock, and one of the queen's naval aides-de-camp from 1846 to 1850. At this time he was well known in society, and more especially in sporting circles, as a patron of the turf. In 1846 his horse Sting, after proving himself the best two-year old of his year, was for some time favourite for the Derby, in which, however, he was not placed. In January 1851 he commissioned the Vengeance for service in the Mediterranean, and on 17 Oct. 1854 took part in the attack on the sea-forts of Sebastopol. In the summer of 1855 the Vengeance was paid off, and on 5 July Russell was made a C.B. He had no further service, but became in due course rear-admiral on 17 Oct. 1856, vice-admiral on 27 April 1863, and admiral on 20 March 1867. On 1 April 1870 he accepted the new retirement, and died at Cowes on 21 May 1887.

[O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Times, 26 May 1887; Morning Post, 25, 26 May 1887; Navy Lists.]

J. K. L.

RUSSELL, Lady ELIZABETH (1528- 1609), authoress. [See under Hoby, Sir Thomas.]

RUSSELL, FRANCIS, second Earl of Bedford (1527?–1585), only son of John Russell, first earl of Bedford [q. v.], by his wife Anne, was born probably in 1527. He