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EARL OF EDWARD RUSSELL ORFORD (1653-1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 254 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EARL OF See also:EDWARD See also:RUSSELL See also:ORFORD (1653-1727)  , See also:British See also:admiral, was See also:born in 1653, the son of See also:Edward See also:Russell, a younger See also:brother of the 1st See also:duke of See also:Bedford . He was one of the first See also:gentleman See also:officers of the See also:navy regularly bred to the See also:sea . In 1671 he was named See also:lieutenant of the " See also:Advice " at the See also:age of eighteen, See also:captain in the following See also:year . He continued in active service against the Dutch in the See also:North Sea in 1672-73, and in the Mediterranean in the operations against the See also:Barbary Pirateswith See also:Sir See also:John See also:Narborough and See also:Arthur See also:Herbert, afterwards See also:earl of See also:Torrington, from 1676 to 1682 . In 1683 he ceased to be employed, and the See also:reason must no doubt be looked for in the fact that all members of the Russell See also:family had fallen into disfavour with the See also:king, after the See also:discovery of See also:William, See also:Lord Russell's connexion with the See also:Rye See also:House See also:Plot . The family had a private revenge to take which sharpened their sense of the danger run by British liberties from the tyranny of King See also:James II . Throughout the negotiations preceding the revolution of 1688 Edward Russell appears acting on behalf and in the name of the See also:head of this See also:great Whig house, which did so much to bring it about, and profited by it so enormously in See also:purse and See also:power . He signed the invitation which William of See also:Orange insisted on having in See also:writing in See also:order to commit the chiefs of the opposition to give him open help . Edward Russell's prominence at this crisis was of itself enough to See also:account for his importance after the Revolution . When the See also:war began with See also:France in 1689, he served at first under the earl of Torrington . But during 1690, when that admiral avowed his intention of retiring to the Gunfleet, and of leaving the See also:French in command of the Channel, Russell was one of those who condemned him most fiercely . In See also:December 1690 he succeeded Torrington, and during 169r he cruised without See also:meeting the French under See also:Tourville (q.v.), who made no See also:attempt to meet him .

At this See also:

time Russell, like some of the other extreme Whigs, was discontented with the moderation of William of Orange and had entered into negotiations with the exiled See also:court, partly out of spite, and partly to make themselves safe in See also:case of a restoration . But he was always ready to fight the French, and in 1692 he defeated Tourville in the See also:battle called La Hogue, or See also:Barfleur . Russell had Dutch See also:allies with him, and they were greatly See also:superior in number, but the See also:chief difficulty encountered was in the pursuit, which Russell conducted with great See also:resolution . His utter inability to See also:work with the Tories, with whom William See See also:Charnock, Biog . See also:Nay. i . 354; See also:Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, ii . 317 . (D .

End of Article: EARL OF EDWARD RUSSELL ORFORD (1653-1727)
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