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William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford KG PC (August 1616 – 7 September 1700) was an English nobleman and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited his Peerage as 5th Earl of Bedford and removed to the House of Lords.
William Russell, 1st duke and 5th earl of Bedford (born 1613—died September 7, 1700) was the eldest son of the 4th earl, who fought first on the side of Parliament and then on the side of Charles I during the English Civil War. In general, he played a minor part in politics.
John Russell, a close adviser of Henry VIII and Edward VI, was granted the title of Earl of Bedford in 1551, and his descendant William, 5th Earl, was created Duke in 1694, following the Glorious Revolution. The Russell family currently holds the titles of Earl and Duke of Bedford.
In 1683 he could not prevent his son and heir, Lord William Russell, from being executed for his involvement in the Rye House plot - a failed attempt to assassinate Charles II and his brother the Duke of York.
The family was connected with the Parliamentary party in the English Civil Wars. Its first notable Whig member was Lord William Russell (son of the 1st duke of Bedford), a supporter of attempts to exclude the future king James II from the throne; he was executed for treason in 1683.
His eldest son William, Lord Russell (1639-83), married in 1669 Lady Rachel Wriothesley, daughter and co-heir of the 4th Earl of Southampton, through whom the Bloomsbury (Middlesex) estate and...
William Russell, 5th Earl and 1st Duke of Bedford primary name: Russell, William other name: (Duke of) Bedford
