Lord Arthur Russell

Lord Arthur John Edward Russell (13 June 1825 – 4 April 1892) was a British Liberal Party politician.

Early life

He was born in London on 13 June 1825. He was the second of three sons of Major-General Lord George William Russell and Elizabeth Anne Rawdon. His elder brother was Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford and his younger brother was Odo Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill, the first British Ambassador to the German Empire. His sister was Blanche Russell.

His father was the second son of the John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford by his first wife, Hon. Georgiana Byng (a daughter of George Byng, 4th Viscount Torrington). His maternal grandparents were Frances (née Hall-Stevenson) and the Hon. John Theophilus Rawdon (himself second son of the 1st Earl of Moira). He was said to have only spoke rarely in the Commons, once in reply to an attack on his brother, Odo.

Personal life

On 25 September 1865, Russell married Laura de Peyronnet, the eldest of three daughters of Paul Louis Jules, Vicomte de Peyronnet, and his English wife, Georgina Frances Whitfield. Laura, who was also sister to Isabelle, Marchioness of Sligo (wife of the 3rd Marquess of Sligo), was an amateur portraitist. He was raised to the rank of a Duke's son on 25 June 1872 and was then known as Lord Arthur Russell. Together they had six children, including:

Harold John Hastings Russell (1868–1926), a barrister who married Lady Victoria Alberta Leveson-Gower, daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville, in 1896. There is a memorial to him in the 'Bedford Chapel' at St. Michael's Church, Chenies.