Russell, John Russell, 1st Earl

b. 1792; d. 1878

British statesman, born in London, the third son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford; educated privately, at Westminster and at Edinburgh University. He entered Parliament as a Whig, and was an ardent supporter of reform. He first pressed for parliamentary reform in 1819, and supported the repeal of the Test Acts and Roman Catholic emancipation. He became paymaster-general of the forces in 1831, and led the House of Commons during Melbourne's short-lived administration three years later. When Melbourne again came into power in 1835 he was home secretary, but in 1839 went to the Colonial Office. He led the Opposition against Peel, and when Peel retired in 1846 he formed an administration. In 1851 at the insistance of Queen Victoria he insisted upon the resignation of the foreign secretary, Palmerston, who had without authorisation recognised Napoleon III as emperor of the French after the coup d'état. In 1852 he was defeated and resigned, but accepted a seat in Aberdeen Cabinet. He was for a short time colonial secretary under Palmerston in 1855, but in 1859 went to the Foreign Office under the same leader. He was created Earl Russell in 1861, and four years later, on the death of Palmerston, again became prime minister, with Gladstone as leader of the House of Commons, but held office for only a few months, resigning when his reform bill failed. Literature as well as politics interested Russell, and he published a number of historical and political works. He anticipated some of the policy usually associated with Palmerston, which made Britain appear frequently in the role of the champion of European liberalism.

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