John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford,
KG, PC, JP (c.
1485 –
March 14 1554/1555) was an English royal minister in the later
Tudor era. He served variously as
Lord High Admiral and
Lord Privy Seal.
He was the son of James Russell of
Kingston Russell and his wife Alice Wyse, and was born about 1485 at
Long Bredy, Dorset. James was son of another John Russell and Alice Froxmere, son of Henry Russell and Elizabeth Herring, who was son of Stephen Russell (alias
Stephen Gascoigne),
MP for
Weymouth and Alice de la Tour.
In 1506 he was of service to
Philip of Austria and
Juana his wife (King and Queen of
Castile) when they were shipwrecked off
Weymouth, and was introduced to the Court by them. He became Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to
Henry VII in 1507 and
Henry VIII in 1509, who employed him in various military and diplomatic missions during the
War of the League of Cambrai. He was at the taking of
Thérouanne and
Tournai. He was knighted on
July 2 1522 after losing an eye at the taking of
Morlaix in
Brittany, and he witnessed the
Battle of Pavia.
In the spring of 1526, he married Anne Sapcote, widow of John Broughton and of Sir Richard Jerningham, and daughter of Sir Guy Sapcote and his wife Margaret Wolston, and made alterations to
Chenies Manor House to reflect his new good fortunes. He now stood in favor with the King and
Cardinal Wolsey, though he would not suffer disgrace at the fall of the latter.
He was made
Sheriff of
Dorset and
Somerset in 1528 and served as
Member of Parliament for
Buckinghamshire 1529–1536, retaining the royal favor despite the antipathy of
Anne Boleyn. Late in 1536, he was made a
Privy Counsellor, and helped to suppress the
Pilgrimage of Grace.
The fall and execution of the
Marquess of Exeter left a vacuum of power in the southwestern counties of England, which Russell would be called upon to fill. On
9 March 1538/1539 he was created
Baron Russell, and appointed Lord President of the
Council of the West. In the next month, he was made a
Knight of the Garter. In July
1539 he was made
High Steward of Cornwall, and
Lord Warden of the Stannaries.
The Council of the West proved unsuccessful as an instrument of government, and did not survive the fall of
Cromwell. Russell, however, remained a great magnate in the western counties, and obtained the office of
Lord High Admiral in 1540. (The previous holder, the
Earl of Southampton, replaced Cromwell as
Lord Privy Seal.) In 1542, Russell himself resigned the Admiralty and succeeded to the Privy Seal on the death of Southampton. He was High Steward of the
University of Oxford from 1543 till his death.
During the
Italian War of 1542, he unsuccessfully besieged
Montreuil in 1544, and was Captain General of the Vanguard of the army for the attack on Boulogne in 1545. He was a close companion of Henry VIII during the last years of his reign. On Henry's death, he was one of the executors of the King's will, and one of sixteen counsellors during the minority of
Edward VI.
On the
dissolution of the greater monasteries he obtained for himself the Cistercian Abbey at Dunkeswell, Devon, the Abbey of Tavistock, Devon, the town of
Tavistock and other rich holdings. On
4 May 1552 he obtained seven acres (28,000 m²) called "Long Acre", the garden of a suppressed convent, which is now the site of "
Covent Garden". He was
Lord High Steward for Edward's
coronation 20 February 1547. He was created
Earl of Bedford on
19 January 1549/1550 for his assistance in carrying out the order of the Council against "images" and for promoting the new religion. In 1552, he was made
Lord Lieutenant of Devon. On
16 June 1553 he was one of the twenty-six
Peers who signed the settlement of the crown on
Lady Jane Grey. He was sent to attend
Philip II into England on his coming from Spain to wed the
Queen.
He died
14 March 1554/1555 and was buried at
Chenies, Buckinghamshire, in the private Bedford Chapel of the church next to his
manor there.
Russell is the ancestor of all subsequent Earls and Dukes of Bedford and Earls Russell, including
John Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and philosopher
Bertrand Russell. 
