FRANCIS

See also:

• RUSSELL (FAMILY)
• RUSSELL, ISRAEL COOK (1852- )
• RUSSELL, JOHN (1745-1806)
• RUSSELL, JOHN (d. 1494)
• RUSSELL, JOHN RUSSELL, 1ST EARL (1792-1878)
• RUSSELL, JOHN SCOTT (1808–1882)
• RUSSELL, LORD WILLIAM (1639–1683)
• RUSSELL, SIR WILLIAM HOWARD
• RUSSELL, THOMAS (1762-1788)
• RUSSELL, WILLIAM CLARK (1844– )

RUSSELL  , 5th duke of Bedford (1765–1802), eldest son of Francis Russell, marquess of Tavistock (d . 1767), by his wife, Elizabeth (d . 1768), daughter of William Keppel, 2nd earl of Albemarle, was baptized on the 23rd of July 1765 . In January 1771 he succeeded his grandfather as duke of Bedford, and was educated at Westminster school and Trinity College, Cambridge, afterwards spending nearly two years in foreign travel . Regarding Charles James Fox as his political leader, he joined the Whigs in the House of Lords, and became a member of the circle of the prince of Wales, afterwards George IV . Having overcome some nervousness and educational defects, he began to speak in the House, and soon became one of the leading debaters in that assembly . He opposed most of the measures brought for-ward by the ministry of William Pitt, and objected to the grant of a pension to Edmund Burke, an action which drew down upon him a scathing attack from Burke's pen . Bedford was greatly interested in agriculture . He established a model farm at Woburn, and made experiments with regard to the breeding of sheep . He was a member of the original board of agriculture, and was the first president of the Smithfield club . He died at Woburn on the 2nd of March 1802, and was buried in the family burying-place at Chenies . The duke was never married, and was succeeded in the title by his brother, John .

See

Lord Holland, Memoirs of the Whig Party (London, 1854) J . H . Wiffen, Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell (London, 1833): E . Burke, Letter to a Noble Lord (Edinburgh, 1837; and Earl Stanhope, Life of Pitt (London, 1861-1862) .