Russell, John Russell, 1st Earl, Viscount Amberley Of Amberley And Of Ardsalla

Russell, John Russell, 1st Earl, Viscount Amberley Of Amberley And Of Ardsalla

▪ prime minister of United Kingdom
also called (until 1861) Lord John Russell
born Aug. 18, 1792, London, Eng.
died May 28, 1878, Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey
 prime minister of Great Britain (1846–52, 1865–66), an aristocratic liberal and leader of the fight for passage of the Reform Bill of 1832.

      Russell was the third son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford. (As the younger son of a peer, he was known for most of his life as Lord John Russell; he himself was created earl in 1861.) He thus came of a family that had long demonstrated its public spirit. The depth of his liberalism probably owed much to an untypical education. Poor health forbade the rigours of an English public school, and later, his father, who was critical of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, sent him to the University of Edinburgh, where he drank deeply of Scottish philosophy.

      In 1813 he became a member of Parliament and four years later made his first important speech—characteristically, an attack on the government's suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. In December 1819 Russell took up the cause of parliamentary reform, making it in the early 1820s not only his own cause but also that of the Whig Party. When the Whigs came to power in 1830, he joined the small ministerial committee that was to draft a reform bill, and on March 31, 1831, he presented it to the House of Commons. Overnight, he had won a national reputation.

      In the 1830s and '40s, Russell remained the chief promoter of liberal reform in the Whig Party—although never again, perhaps, was this role so glorious as in the protracted but successful conflict over the passing of the first Reform Bill. As paymaster general under Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, during roughly the first half of the 1830s, Russell championed the cause of religious freedom for both English Dissenters and Irish Roman Catholics. Indeed, he pursued these aims so zealously that, in seeking to divert some of the wealth of the established Church of Ireland (which was Protestant) to the Roman Catholics (who formed the bulk of the population), he frightened such leading Whigs as Lord Stanley (later Earl of Derby) out of the party. In the second half of the 1830s, as home secretary under Lord Melbourne, Russell, among other things, democratized the government of large towns (with the exception of London). He also reduced the number of criminal offenses liable to capital punishment and began the system of state inspection and support of public education.

      Even out of office from 1841 to 1846, when he stood in opposition to Sir Robert Peel (Peel, Sir Robert, 2nd Baronet), Russell left his mark. In 1845, in advance of his party, he came out in favour of total free trade, a crucial step in forcing Peel to follow him. As a result Peel split his party, the Whigs came to power, and Russell became prime minister.

      This administration (1846–52) demonstrated that, although Russell's penchant for advanced ideas was as strong as ever, his ability to implement them was now seriously reduced. He was able to establish the 10-hour day in factory labour (1847) and to found a national board of public health (1848). But, largely because of party disunity and weak leadership, he was unable to end the civil disabilities of the Jews, extend the franchise to the workers in the cities, or guarantee security of tenure to the Irish farmers.

      In the remaining years of his public career, Russell's difficulties increased. Party disunity continued and brought down his second administration (1865–66) when he made his last attempt to extend the franchise. But more significant, in the 1850s the national temper had changed. An age of reform had given way to a mood of self-complacency, even of belligerence. This was already evident in the Ecclesiastical Titles Act of 1851, which Russell's government had passed and which in effect was England's defiance of the papacy.

      This mood deepened, transformed, on the one hand, into an appetite for foreign conquest and, on the other, into boredom with social and political reform. In such an atmosphere Russell was inevitably overshadowed by the forceful and popular Lord Palmerston, who seized the forefront of the national stage in the Crimean War (1854–56). Indeed, for four years, from 1855 to 1859, Russell retired from public life and devoted more and more of his time to literature. Private life had always beckoned to him, as had the life of a litterateur. Among the English prime ministers, few wrote so copiously—biography, history, poetry—as Russell. He accepted an earldom in 1861, and he died at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, in 1878.

David Spring

Additional Reading
Spencer Walpole, The Life of Lord John Russell, 2 vol. (1889, reprinted 1969), still the definitive biography, is useful but too uncritical. John Prest, Lord John Russell (1972), is a lively scholarly biography.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • John Russell, 1st Earl Russell — Infobox Prime Minister name =The Earl Russell small order =Prime Minister of the United Kingdom term start =29 October 1865 term end =28 June 1866 monarch =Victoria predecessor =The Viscount Palmerston successor =The Earl of Derby term start2 =30 …   Wikipedia

  • Prime ministers of Great Britain and the United Kingdom — ▪ Table Prime ministers of Great Britain and the United Kingdom* party** term Robert Walpole (Walpole, Robert, 1st earl of Orford) (from 1725, Sir Robert Walpole; from 1742, earl of Orford) Whig 1721–42 Spencer Compton (Wilmington, Spencer… …   Universalium

  • Earl Russell — Earl Russell, of Kingston Russell in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 30 July 1861 for the prominent Liberal politician Lord John Russell. He was Home Secretary from 1835 to 1839, Foreign… …   Wikipedia

  • Palmerston, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount, Baron Temple Of Mount Temple — ▪ prime minister of United Kingdom Introduction byname  Pam   born Oct. 20, 1784, Broadlands, Hampshire, Eng. died Oct. 18, 1865, Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire  English Whig Liberal (Liberal Party) statesman whose long career, including many years… …   Universalium

  • Spencer, John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl — ▪ British statesman also called  (until 1834) Viscount Althorp   born May 30, 1782, London died Oct. 1, 1845, near Clayworth, Nottinghamshire, Eng.       statesman, leader of the British House of Commons and chancellor of the Exchequer from 1830… …   Universalium

  • Whig and Tory — ▪ historical British political party       members of two opposing political parties or factions in England, particularly during the 18th century. Originally “Whig” and “Tory” were terms of abuse introduced in 1679 during the heated struggle over …   Universalium

  • Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl Of Beaconsfield, Viscount Hughenden Of Hughenden — ▪ prime minister of United Kingdom Introduction byname  Dizzy  born December 21, 1804, London, England died April 19, 1881, London  British statesman (Parliament) and novelist who was twice prime minister (1868, 1874–80) and who provided the… …   Universalium

  • Russell, Bertrand — ▪ British logician and philosopher in full  Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell of Kingston Russell, Viscount Amberley of Amberley and of Ardsalla  born May 18, 1872, Trelleck, Monmouthshire, Wales died Feb. 2, 1970,… …   Universalium

  • United Kingdom — a kingdom in NW Europe, consisting of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: formerly comprising Great Britain and Ireland 1801 1922. 58,610,182; 94,242 sq. mi. (244,100 sq. km). Cap.: London. Abbr.: U.K. Official name, United Kingdom of Great… …   Universalium

  • Victoria — /vik tawr ee euh, tohr /; for 3 also Sp. /beek taw rddyah/, n. 1. the ancient Roman goddess of victory, identified with the Greek goddess Nike. 2. 1819 1901, queen of Great Britain 1837 1901; empress of India 1876 1901. 3. Guadalupe /gwahd l oohp …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”