Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford DBE FLS (September 26, 1865–March 22, 1937) was an English pilot, ornithologist and taxonomist.
Mary was born Mary du Caurroy Tribe, the daughter of Walter Harry Tribe, Archdeacon of Lahore, in 1865 at Stockbridge, Hampshire. On January 31, 1888, she married Lord Herbrand Russell at Barrackpore, India. When Lord Herbrand inherited his childless brother's titles in 1893, Mary became Duchess of Bedford and in 1928, became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The marriage is reported by her grandson John Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford to have been without affection. Mary also took little interest in her only son; a man is reported to have tutored him in her house for over a year without ever seeing the Duchess.
Dame Mary was a collector and watcher of birds, and took an interest in bird migration. Between 1909 and 1914 she spent much time on Fair Isle, often in the company of William Eagle Clarke. Her Fair Isle journals A bird-watcher’s diary, were privately published in 1938 after her death.
Late in life she became interested in aviation, which she claimed gave her some relief from her constant tinnitus. She eventually became totally deaf.
Dame Mary died in 1937, aged 71, after leaving Woburn Abbey in a De Havilland Gipsy Moth plane, which crashed into the North Sea; her body was never recovered.
