John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
| The Right Honourable The Earl Russell KG GCMG PC |
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| In office 29 October 1865 – 28 June 1866 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | The Viscount Palmerston |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Derby |
| In office 30 June 1846 – 23 February 1852 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | Sir Robert Peel, Bt |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Derby |
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Leader of the Opposition
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| In office 28 June 1866 – 3 December 1868 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Earl of Derby Benjamin Disraeli |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Derby |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Disraeli |
| In office 23 February 1852 – 19 December 1852 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Earl of Derby |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Derby |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Derby |
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Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
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| In office 18 June 1859 – 3 November 1865 |
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| Prime Minister | The Viscount Palmerston Himself |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Malmesbury |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Clarendon |
| In office 28 December 1852 – 21 February 1853 |
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| Prime Minister | The Earl of Aberdeen |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Malmesbury |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Clarendon |
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| Born | 18 August 1792 London, England |
| Died | 28 May 1878 (aged 85) Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey |
| Political party | Whig and Liberal |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Signature |  |
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), 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 the grandfather of Bertrand Russell, the mathematician, philosopher and political campaigner.
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Background and education
Russell was born into the highest echelons of the British aristocracy. The Russell family had been one of the principal Whig dynasties in England since the 17th century, and were among the richest handful of aristocratic landowning families in the country, but as a younger son of the 6th Duke of Bedford he was not in line to inherit the family estates. As a younger son, he bore the courtesy title "Lord John Russell", but as he was not a peer in his own right he was entitled to sit in the House of Commons.
He was educated at Westminster School and the University of Edinburgh, which he attended for three years but did not take a degree.[1]
Politics
Russell entered parliament as a Whig in 1813. In 1819, Russell embraced the cause of parliamentary reform, and led the more reformist wing of the Whigs throughout the 1820s. When the Whigs came to power in 1830 in Earl Grey's government, Russell entered the government as Paymaster of the Forces, and was soon elevated to the Cabinet. He was one of the principal leaders of the fight for the Reform Act 1832, earning the nickname Finality Jack from his complacency pronouncing the Act a final measure. In 1834, when the leader of the Commons, Lord Althorp, succeeded to the peerage as Earl Spencer, Russell became the leader of the Whigs in the Commons, a position he maintained for the rest of the decade, until the Whigs fell from power in 1841. In this position, Russell continued to lead the more reformist wing of the Whig party, calling, in particular, for religious freedom, and, as Home Secretary in the late 1830s, played a large role in democratizing the government of British cities (other than London).
In 1845, as leader of the Opposition, Russell came out in favour of repeal of the Corn Laws, forcing Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel to follow him. When the Conservatives split the next year over this issue, the Whigs returned to power and Russell became Prime Minister. Russell's premiership was frustrating, and, due to party disunity and his own ineffectual leadership, he was unable to get many of the measures he was interested in passed.
Russell's first government coincided with the Great Irish Famine of the late 1840s. Russell's government also saw conflict with his headstrong Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, whose belligerence and support for continental revolution he found embarrassing. When, without royal approval, Palmerston recognized Napoleon III's coup of 2 December 1851, Palmerston was forced to resign. Within a few months Palmerston caused the defeat of Russell's ministry on the militia bill (his "tit for tat with Johnny Russell"), and the ministry soon collapsed.
After a short-lived minority Conservative government under the Earl of Derby, Russell brought the Whigs into a new coalition government with the Peelite Conservatives, headed by the Peelite Lord Aberdeen. Russell served again as Leader of the House of Commons, and together with Palmerston was instrumental in getting Britain involved in the Crimean War, against the wishes of the cautious, Russophile Aberdeen. Incompetence in the early stages of the war, however, led to the collapse of the government, and Palmerston formed a new government. Although Russell was initially included, he did not get on well with his former subordinate, and temporarily retired from politics in 1855, focusing on writing.
In 1859, following another short-lived Conservative government, Palmerston and Russell made up their differences, and Russell consented to serve as Foreign Secretary in a new Palmerston cabinet - usually considered the first true Liberal Cabinet. This period was a particularly eventful one in the world outside Britain, seeing the Unification of Italy, the American Civil War, and the 1864 war over Schleswig-Holstein between Denmark and the German states. Russell's handling of these crises was not particularly noteworthy, and he was always overshadowed by his more eminent chief. In particular, his attempts to attain British mediation in the American war, which were shot down by the cautious Palmerston, did not improve his position.
Russell was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Amberley, of Amberley in the County of Gloucester and of Ardsalla in the County of Meath, and Earl Russell, of Kingston Russell in the County of Dorset, in 1861. As a peer in his own right, he sat in the House of Lords for the remainder of his career.
When Palmerston suddenly died in late 1865, Russell again became Prime Minister. His second premiership was short and frustrating, and Russell failed in his great ambition of expanding the franchise - a task that would be left to his Conservative successors, Derby and Benjamin Disraeli. In 1866, party disunity again brought down his government, and Russell went into permanent retirement.
In 1876, his son, John Russell, Viscount Amberley, died, and he and his wife thereafter brought up his son Bertrand Russell, who afterwards became a renowned mathematician, philosopher and political campaigner, at their house in Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park. Their other children were The Hon. George Gilbert William Russell (14 April 1848 - 7 January 1933), who died unmarried and without issue, The Hon. Francis Albert Rollo Russell (11 July 1849 - 30 March 1914), who married twice and had issue by both his marriages, now extinct in male line, Lady Georgiana Adelaide Russell (? - 25 September 1922), who married and had issue, Lady Victoria Russell (20 October 1838 - 9 May 1880), who also married and had issue, and Lady Mary Augusta Russell (1853 - 23 April 1933), who also died unmarried and without issue.
Legacy
He was succeeded as Liberal leader by former Peelite William Ewart Gladstone, and was thus the last true Whig to serve as Prime Minister. He may have served as Anthony Trollope's model for the character of Plantagenet Palliser. An ideal statesman, said Trollope, should have "unblemished, unextinguishable, inexhaustible love of country...But he should also be scrupulous, and, as being scrupulous, weak."[2]
The 1832 Reform Act and the democratisation of the government of British cities are partly attributed to his efforts.
He also worked for emancipation, leading the attack on the Test and Corporation acts, which were repealed in 1828, as well as towards legislation limiting working hours in factories in the 1847 Factory Act, and the Public Health Act of 1848.
His government's approach to dealing with the Irish Potato Famine is now widely condemned as counterproductive, ill-informed and disastrous; however, it has been argued that Russell himself (a "Foxite" populist) was sympathetic to the plight of the Irish poor, and that many of his relief proposals were blocked by his cabinet and the British Parliament.
Russell's governments
- First Russell ministry (July 1846–February 1852)
- Second Russell ministry (October 1865–June 1866)
Literature
In 1819 Lord John Russell published his book "Life of Lord Russell" about his famous ancestor. Between 1853 and 1856, he edited the Memoirs, Journal and Correspondence of Thomas Moore, which was published by Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans over 8 volumes.[3][4]
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens was dedicated to Lord John Russell "In remembrance of many public services and private kindnesses."
See also
- Principal residence and museum - Pembroke Lodge
References
- ↑ John Prest, Lord John Russell (University of South Carolina Press, 1972), 11-13.
- ↑ Quoted in Blair G. Kenney, "Trollope's Ideal Statesmen: Plantagenet Palliser and Lord John Russell" in Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 20, No. 3. (Dec., 1965), pp. 281-285.
- ↑ Internet Archive: Details: Memoirs, journal, and correspondence of Thomas Moore. Ed. by the Right Honourable Lord John Russell, M.P
- ↑ Internet Archive: Details: Memoirs, journal, and correspondence of Thomas Moore. Ed. by the Right Honourable Lord John Russell, M.P
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord John Russell
- Lord John Russell 1792-1878 biography from the Liberal Democrat History Group
- Lord John Russell by Stuart J. Reid
- More about Earl Russell on the Downing Street website.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Calcraft |
Paymaster of the Forces 1830 – 1834 |
Succeeded by Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt |
| Preceded by Viscount Althorp |
Leader of the House of Commons 1834 |
Succeeded by Sir Robert Peel |
| Preceded by Henry Goulburn |
Home Secretary 1835 – 1839 |
Succeeded by The Marquess of Normanby |
| Preceded by Sir Robert Peel, Bt |
Leader of the House of Commons 1835 – 1841 |
Succeeded by Sir Robert Peel, Bt |
| Preceded by The Marquess of Normanby |
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1839 – 1841 |
Succeeded by Lord Stanley |
| Preceded by Sir Robert Peel, Bt |
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 30 June 1846 – 23 February 1852 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Derby |
| Leader of the House of Commons 1846 – 1852 |
Succeeded by Benjamin Disraeli |
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| Preceded by The Earl of Malmesbury |
Foreign Secretary 1852 – 1853 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Clarendon |
| Preceded by Benjamin Disraeli |
Leader of the House of Commons 1852 – 1855 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Palmerston |
| Preceded by The Earl Granville |
Lord President of the Council 1854 – 1855 |
Succeeded by The Earl Granville |
| Preceded by Sidney Herbert |
Secretary of State for the Colonies 1855 |
Succeeded by Sir William Molesworth, Bt |
| Preceded by The Earl of Malmesbury |
Foreign Secretary 1859 – 1865 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Clarendon |
| Preceded by The Viscount Palmerston |
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 29 October 1865 – 28 June 1866 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Derby |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Lord William Russell Richard Fitzpatrick |
Member of Parliament for Tavistock with Lord William Russell 1813 – 1817 |
Succeeded by Lord William Russell Lord Robert Spencer |
| Preceded by Lord William Russell Lord Robert Spencer |
Member of Parliament for Tavistock with Lord William Russell 1818–1819 John Peter Grant 1819–1820 1818 – 1820 |
Succeeded by John Peter Grant John Nicholas Fazakerly |
| Preceded by William Henry Fellowes Lord Frederick Montagu |
Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire with William Henry Fellowes 1820 – 1826 |
Succeeded by William Henry Fellowes Viscount Mandeville |
| Preceded by Viscount Duncannon |
Member of Parliament for Bandon 1826 – 1830 |
Succeeded by Viscount Bernard |
| Preceded by Viscount Ebrington Lord William Russell |
Member of Parliament for Tavistock with Lord William Russell 1830 – 1831 |
Succeeded by Lord William Russell John Heywood Hawkins |
| Preceded by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland Viscount Ebrington |
Member of Parliament for Devonshire with Viscount Ebrington 1831 – 1832 |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Devonshire South with John Crocker Bulteel 1832–1835 Sir John Yarde-Buller 1835 1832 – 1835 |
Succeeded by Sir John Yarde-Buller Montague Parker |
| Preceded by William Henry Hyett George Poulett Scrope |
Member of Parliament for Stroud with George Poulett Scrope 1835 – 1841 |
Succeeded by George Poulett Scrope William Henry Stanton |
| Preceded by Sir Matthew Wood George Grote William Crawford James Pattison |
Member of Parliament for City of London with Sir Matthew Wood 1841–1843 John Masterman 1841–1857 George Lyall 1841–1847 James Pattison 1843–1849 Lionel de Rothschild 1847–1861 Sir James Duke 1849–1861 Robert Wigram Crawford 1857–1861 1841 – 1861 |
Succeeded by Lionel de Rothschild Sir James Duke Robert Wigram Crawford Western Wood |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by The Viscount Melbourne |
Leader of the British Whig Party 1842 – 1855 with The Marquess of Lansdowne (1842 – 1846) |
Succeeded by The Viscount Palmerston |
| Preceded by Viscount Althorp |
Whig Leader in the Commons 1834 – 1855 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Palmerston |
| Preceded by The Viscount Palmerston |
Leader of the British Liberal Party 1865 – 1866 |
Succeeded by William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by The Earl Granville |
Leader of the Liberals in the House of Lords 1865 – 1868 |
Succeeded by The Earl Granville |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Andrew Rutherford |
Rector of the University of Glasgow 1846 – 1847 |
Succeeded by William Mure |
| Preceded by Unknown |
Rector of the University of Aberdeen 1863 – 1866 |
Succeeded by Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff |
| Preceded by Edward Stanley |
President of the Royal Statistical Society 1859–1861 |
Succeeded by John Pakington |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Earl Russell 1861 – 1878 |
Succeeded by Frank Russell |
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Book:Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Category:British Secretaries of State
Portal:United Kingdom
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