View source for John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford

{{short description|18th-century British statesman}}
{{Moresources|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix   = [[His Grace]]
|name               = The Duke of Bedford
|honorific-suffix   = [[Order of the Garter|KG]] [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|PC]] [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]
|image              =File:John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg
|imagesize          = 
|alt                = The Duke of Bedford
|caption            = The Duke of Bedford by [[Thomas Gainsborough]]
|order              = [[Lord President of the Council]]
|office             =
|term_start         = 9 September 1763
|term_end           = 12 July 1765
|monarch            = [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]]
|primeminister      = [[George Grenville]]
|predecessor        = [[John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville|The Earl Granville]]
|successor          = [[Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea|The Earl of Winchilsea]]
|ambassador_from1 =  British
|country1     =  France
|term_start1  =  4 April 1762
|term_end1    =  1 June 1763
|predecessor1 =  Vacant<br/><small>[[Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle|The Earl of Albemarle]] recalled due to the [[Seven Years' War]]</small>
|successor1   =  [[Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford|The Earl of Hertford]]
|primeminister1   =  <!--Can be repeated up to eight times by adding a number-->
|order2             =  [[Lord Privy Seal]]
|office2            =
|term_start2        =  25 November 1761
|term_end2          =  22 April 1763
|monarch2           =  [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]]
|primeminister2     =  [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|The Duke of Newcastle]]<br/>[[John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute|The Earl of Bute]]<br/>[[George Grenville]]
|predecessor2       =  In Commission<br/><small>[[Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple|The Earl Temple]], 5 October 1761</small>
|successor2         =  [[George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough|The Duke of Marlborough]]
|order3             =  [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]]
|office3            =
|term_start3        =  3 January 1757
|term_end3          =  3 April 1761
|monarch3           =  [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]<br/>[[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]]
|predecessor3       =  [[William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire|The Duke of Devonshire]]
|successor3         =  [[George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax|The Earl of Halifax]]
|order4             =  [[Secretary of State for the Southern Department]]
|office4            =
|term_start4        =  12 February 1748
|term_end4          =  13 June 1751
|monarch4           =  [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]
|primeminister4     =  [[Henry Pelham]]
|predecessor4       =  [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|The Duke of Newcastle]]
|successor4         =  [[Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness|The Earl of Holderness]]
|order5             =  [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]
|office5            =
|term_start5        =  27 December 1744
|term_end5          =  26 February 1748
|monarch5           =  [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]
|primeminister5     =  [[Henry Pelham]]
|predecessor5       =  [[Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea|The Earl of Winchilsea]]
|successor5         =  [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|The Earl of Sandwich]]
|birth_date         = 30 September 1710
|birth_place        = [[Streatham]], [[Surrey]], England
|death_date         = {{Death date and age|1771|1|5|1710|9|30|df=yes}}
|death_place        = [[Woburn, Bedfordshire]], England
|restingplace       = [[Chenies]], [[Buckinghamshire]]
|restingplacecoordinates =
|birthname          = John Russell
|nationality        = British
|party              =
|otherparty         =  <!--For additional political affiliations-->
|spouse             = {{Plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford|Lady Diana Spencer]]|1731|1735|end=d}}
* {{marriage|[[Gertrude Russell, Duchess of Bedford|Lady Gertrude Leveson-Gower]]|1737}}
}}
|parents            = [[Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford]] <br> Elizabeth Howland
|relations          =
|children           = John Russell, Marquess of Tavistock <br> [[Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock]] <br> [[Caroline Spencer, Duchess of Marlborough]]
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[[File:Coat of arms of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, KG, PC, FRS.png|thumb|right|220px|Quartered arms of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, KG]]

'''John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford''' (30 September 1710{{snd}}5 January 1771) was a British [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] statesman and peer who served as the [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]] from 1757 to 1761. A leading member of the Whig party during the [[Seven Years' War]], he negotiated the 1763 [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] which ended the conflict. Bedford was also an early promoter of [[cricket]] and a [[Patronage|patron of the arts]] who commissioned numerous works from prominent artists, most notably [[Canaletto]].<ref name=dnb>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Russell, John (1710-1771)|display=Russell, John (1710–1771)}}</ref><ref name=cokayne>G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 82-84, volume VIII, page 500.</ref><ref name=mosley>Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 2, page 1871.</ref>

==Early life==
{{Unsourced|section|date=January 2023}}
He was the fourth son of [[Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford]], by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Howland of Streatham, Surrey. Known as '''Lord John Russell''', he married in October 1731 [[Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford|Diana Spencer]], daughter of [[Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland]]; became '''Duke of Bedford''' on his brother's death a year later. 

Having lost his first wife in 1735, he married, secondly, in April 1737, to [[Gertrude Russell, Duchess of Bedford|Lady Gertrude Leveson-Gower]] (died 1794), daughter of [[John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower]]. In 1749, John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, was made a Knight of the [[Order of the Garter]].

==Early political career==
In the [[House of Lords]] he joined the [[Patriot Whig]] opposition hostile to the Prime Minister [[Robert Walpole|Sir Robert Walpole]], took a fairly prominent part in public business, and earned the dislike of [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]. When [[John Carteret, 2nd Lord Carteret|Carteret]], now Earl Granville, resigned office in November 1744, Bedford became [[Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty|First Lord of the Admiralty]] in the administration of [[Henry Pelham]], and was made a privy councillor. He was very successful at the admiralty, but was not equally fortunate after he became [[Secretary of State for the Southern Department]] in February 1748. Pelham accused him of idleness and he was constantly at variance with his colleague [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|The Duke of Newcastle]].

Newcastle, who had previously admired [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich|The Earl of Sandwich]] ... Bedford resigned in protest, as Newcastle had calculated, allowing him to replace them with men he considered more loyal personally to him. During his time in the post, he was accused of spending far too much time at his country estate playing [[cricket]] and shooting [[pheasants]].

In 1753 Bedford’s political circle helped to finance the opposition weekly [[The Protester (periodical)|''The Protester'']], edited by [[James Ralph]]; Richard Rigby wrote to Bedford praising the opening number as “an extremely good preface to a political paper.”<ref>Robert W. Kenny, “James Ralph: An Eighteenth-Century Philadelphian in Grub Street,” ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 64, no. 2 (1940): 226, JSTOR 20087279.</ref> In November 1753 Ralph informed Bedford that he was closing the paper, citing ill-health and fear of prosecution, and he returned £150 of a £200 advance.<ref>Kenny, “James Ralph,” 227.</ref>

==Cricket==
Bedford was very keen on cricket. The earliest surviving record of his involvement in the sport comes from 1741 when he hosted [[Bedfordshire county cricket teams|Bedfordshire]] v [[Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire county cricket team|Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire]] at [[Woburn Park]]. The combined Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire team won. Bedford arranged the match with his friends [[George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax]] (Northants) and [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich]] (Hunts).<ref name=IM67>Maun, pp. 106–107.</ref> A few days later, there was a return match at [[Cow Meadow]], [[Northampton]], and the combined team won again.<ref name=IM106>Maun, p. 106.</ref><ref name=WCS27>Waghorn, ''Cricket Scores'', p. 27.</ref>

By 1743, Bedford had developed [[Woburn Cricket Club]] into a leading team that was able to compete against [[London Cricket Club|London]]. The team was prominent in 1743 and 1744 but, after that, there is no further mention of it.

==Seven Years' War==
{{further|Great Britain in the Seven Years War}}
{{Unsourced|section|date=January 2023}}
===Lord Lieutenant of Ireland===
Instigated by his friends, he was active in opposition to the government, becoming the leader of a faction named after him, the [[Bedfordite|Bedford Whigs]]. After Newcastle's resignation in November 1756, Bedford became [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]] in the new government led by [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]] and the [[William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire|Duke of Devonshire]]. He retained this office after Newcastle, [[Pitt-Newcastle Ministry|in alliance with Pitt]], returned to power in June 1757. 

In Ireland, he favoured a relaxation of the [[Penal law (British)|penal laws]] against Roman Catholics, but did not keep his promises to observe neutrality between the rival parties, and to abstain from securing pensions for his friends. His own courtly manners and generosity, and his wife's good qualities, however, seem to have gained for him some popularity, although [[Horace Walpole]] says he disgusted everybody (but the word "disgusting" then had a much wider range of meanings than it has today, and at its mildest meant simply "reserved").

He oversaw the Irish response to the [[Planned French Invasion of Britain (1759)|threatened French invasion]] in 1759, and the [[Battle of Carrickfergus (1760)|landing of a small French force in northern Ireland]]. In March 1761, he resigned from this office.

===Peace negotiator===
{{Main|Peace of Paris (1763)}}
Having allied himself with the [[John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute|Earl of Bute]] and the party anxious to bring the [[Seven Years' War]] to a close, Bedford was noticed as the strongest opponent of Pitt, and became [[Lord Privy Seal]] under Bute after Pitt resigned in October 1761. The [[Bute Ministry|cabinet of Bute]] was divided over the policy to be pursued with regard to the war, but the peace faction prevailed, and, in September 1762, Bedford went to France to open formal negotiations for peace.

He was considerably annoyed because some of the peace negotiations were conducted through other channels, but he signed the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Peace of Paris]] in February 1763. Amongst other gains Britain received [[Canada (New France)|Canada]] from France and [[Spanish Florida|Florida]] from Spain. Resigning his office as Lord Privy Seal soon afterwards, various causes of estrangement arose between Bute and Bedford, and the subsequent relations between the two men were somewhat virulent.

==Grenville ministry==
[[File:Giovanni Antonio Canal, il Canaletto - Campo Santa Maria Formosa - WGA03907.jpg|thumb|200px|Bedford was a patron of [[Canaletto]] and commissioned a number of works from him including this view of [[Venice]].]]
The duke refused to take office under [[George Grenville]] on Bute's resignation in April 1763, and sought to induce Pitt to return to power. A report, however, that Pitt would only take office on condition that Bedford was excluded, incensed him and, smarting under this rebuff, he joined the cabinet of Grenville as [[Lord President of the Council]] in September 1763. His haughty manner, his somewhat insulting language, and his attitude with regard to the regency bill in 1765 offended [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]], who sought in vain to supplant him, and after this failure was obliged to make humiliating concessions to the ministry. In July 1765, however, he was able to dispense with the services of Bedford and his colleagues, and the duke became the leader of a political party, distinguished for rapacity, and known as the ''Bedford party'', or the ''Bloomsbury gang''.

During his term of office, he had opposed a bill to place high import duties on Italian silks. He was consequently assaulted and his London residence was attacked by a mob. He took some part in subsequent political intrigues, and although he did not return to office, his friends, with his consent, joined the ministry of the [[Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton|Duke of Grafton]] in December 1767. This proceeding led "[[Junius (writer)|Junius]]" to write his "Letter to the Duke of Bedford," one of special violence. Bedford was hostile to [[John Wilkes]], and narrowly escaped from a mob favourable to the agitator at Honiton in July 1769.

==Children==
[[File:4thDukeOfBedford.jpg|thumb|200px|Bedford by [[Joshua Reynolds]] during the Seven Years' War.]]
Child of John Russell and his first wife [[Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford|Lady Diana Spencer]]:
*John Russell, Marquess of Tavistock (died at birth 6 November 1732)

Children of John Russell and his second wife [[Gertrude Russell, Duchess of Bedford|Hon. Gertrude Leveson-Gower]]:
*[[Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock]] (27 September 1739 – 22 March 1767)
*[[Caroline Spencer, Duchess of Marlborough|Lady Caroline Russell]] (c. January 1743 – 26 November 1811), married [[George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough]]

==Death==
His health had been declining for some years, and in 1770 he became partially paralysed. He died at [[Woburn, Bedfordshire|Woburn]] on 5 January 1771, and was buried in the [[St Michael's, Chenies#Bedford Chapel|Bedford Chapel]] at [[St Michael's, Chenies|St. Michael's Church]], [[Chenies]], [[Buckinghamshire]]. His sons all predeceased him, and he was succeeded in the title by his grandson, [[Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford|Francis]]. Francis suffered heavy financial losses, and began the development of [[Bloomsbury]] on the old [[Bedford Estate]].

The duke held many public offices: lord-lieutenant of [[Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire|Bedfordshire]] and [[Lord Lieutenant of Devon|Devon]], [[Colonel (United Kingdom)#Colonel of the Regiment|Colonel]] of the [[East Devon Militia]], and chancellor of the University of Dublin among others, and was a [[Order of the Garter|Knight of the Garter]]. Bedford was a proud and conceited man, but possessed both ability and common sense. The important part which he took in public life, however, was due rather to his wealth and position than to his personal taste or ambition. He was neither above nor below the standard of political morality of the time, and was influenced by his duchess, who was very ambitious, and by followers who were singularly unscrupulous.

He served as the twelfth [[Chancellor of the University of Dublin]] from 1765 to 1770.

==See also==
*[[Elizabeth Wrottesley]] (niece)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Brown, Peter Douglas. ''William Pitt, Earl of Chatham: The Great Commoner''. George Allen & Unwin, 1978.
* {{cite book |last=Maun |first=Ian |title=From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750 |year=2009 |publisher=Roger Heavens |isbn=978-1-900592-52-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Waghorn |first=H. T. |author-link=H. T. Waghorn |title=Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773) |year=1899 |publisher=Blackwood }}

==External links==
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{{S-start}}
{{s-hon}}
{{s-new| office}}
{{s-ttl
 | title=[[Foundling Hospital|President of the Foundling Hospital]]
 | years=1739–1771
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{{s-reg|en}}
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{{First Lords of the Admiralty|state=collapsed}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, John Russell, 4th Duke Of}}
[[Category:1710 births]]
[[Category:1771 deaths]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the University of Dublin]]
[[Category:Diplomatic peers]]
[[Category:Dukes of Bedford|404]]
[[Category:Barons Russel|John]]
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[[Category:Lord high constables of England]]
[[Category:Lord presidents of the Council]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of Bedfordshire]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of Devon]]
[[Category:Devon Militia officers]]
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[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for the Southern Department]]
[[Category:Russell family|J]]
[[Category:Whig (British political party) politicians]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of Great Britain to France]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Bedfordshire cricketers]]
[[Category:English cricketers of 1701 to 1786]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:Cricket patrons]]
[[Category:People from Woburn, Bedfordshire]]
[[Category:Lords Lieutenant of Ireland]]
[[Category:18th-century British philanthropists]]
[[Category:Cricketers from Bedfordshire]]
[[Category:Younger sons of dukes]]