RUSSELL OF  • THORNHAUGH, WILLIAM, 1st BARON (c . 1558-1613), English soldier, was a younger son of Francis Russell, 2nd earl of Bedford, and was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford . After spending a few years abroad, he went to Ireland in 158o, and having seen some service in that country he was knighted in September 1581 . In 1585 he joinedthe English forces in the Netherlands, being made lieutenant-general of cavalry; in September 1586 he so distinguished himself at Zutphen that the Spaniards pronounced him " a devil and not a man "; and in 1587 he became governor of Flushing in succession to his late friend, Sir Philip Sidney . He differed with the estates of Holland and with his superior, Lord Willoughby de Eresby; consequently, on his own initiative, he was recalled to England in July 1588 . In May 1594 Russell was made lord deputy of Ireland in place of Sir William Fitzwilliam . He relieved Enniskillen, but his attempts to capture the insurgent leaders, Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, and Fiagh MacHugh O'Byrne, came to nothing . In May 1595 Sir John Norris landed in Ireland, his orders being to help the lord deputy in his difficult task . Russell was somewhat chagrined at the choice, as he and Norris were not very good friends, but for a short time they acted together against the rebels in the N. of Ireland . Russell then led an expedition into Connaught, but soon he and Norris were at variance . Having captured O'Byrne in May 1597, Russell laid down his office and left Ireland later in the month . In 1603 he was created Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, and he died on the 9th of August 1613 .

In 1627 his only son Francis succeeded his

cousin Edward as 4th earl of Bedford . Russell's Journal of his doings in Ireland is in the Carew MSS., and many of his letters are in the British Museum . See J . H . Wiffen, Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell (1833), and R . Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors, vol. iii . (189o) .