Name Francis 9th | Role Politician | |
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Born 16 October 1819 ( 1819-10-16 ) Tenure 27 May 1872 – 14 January 1891 Other titles 9th Marquess of Tavistock13th Earl of Bedford13th Baron Russell11th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh9th Baron Howland Successor George Russell, 10th Duke Issue George William Francis Sackville RussellElla Monica Sackville RussellErmyntrude Sackville RussellHerbrand Arthur Russell Spouse Elizabeth Russell, Duchess of Bedford (m. 1844) Children Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford Parents Lord George Russell, Lady William Russell Grandchildren Hastings Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford Great grandchildren Ian Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford, Lady Daphne Crommelin Russell, Lord Hugh Hastings Russell | ||
Francis Charles Hastings Russell, 9th Duke of BedfordKG (16 October 1819 – 14 January 1891) was an English politician and agriculturalist.
Contents
Life
The son of Major-General Lord George William Russell and Lady William Russell, and the grandson of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, Russell was born in Curzon Street, London, and commissioned into the Scots Fusilier Guards in 1838, retiring in 1844. He was Liberal Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire from 1847 until 1872, when he succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his cousin William Russell, 8th Duke of Bedford, and took his place in the House of Lords. In 1886, he broke with the party leadership of William Ewart Gladstone over the First Irish Home Rule Bill and became a Unionist.
He took an active interest in agriculture and experimentation on his Woburn Abbey estate and was President of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1880. On 1 December 1880, he was made a Knight of the Garter. From 1884 until his death he was Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire.
He died in 1891, aged 71 at 81 Eaton Square, London, by shooting himself as a result of insanity, while suffering from pneumonia. After being cremated at Woking Crematorium, his ashes were buried at the ‘Bedford Chapel’ of St. Michael’s Church in Chenies, Buckinghamshire.
Family
He married Lady Elizabeth Sackville-West, daughter of George Sackville-West, 5th Earl De La Warr, on 18 January 1844. They had four children: