William Russell, Lord Russell
William Russell Lord Russell | |
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Lady Anne Carr |
William Russell, Lord Russell (29 September 1639 – 21 July 1683) was an
Early life and marriage
Born Hon. William Russell, he was the third son of
He and Francis were at Cambridge University in 1654. They then travelled abroad, visiting Lyon and Geneva, residing for a time at Augsburg. Russell's account makes for a colourful depiction of his travels. The two made their way to Paris by 1658, and had returned to Woburn Abbey, Woburn (which was not then in its present palatial form) by December 1659.[1]
At the
Parliament
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/LordWilliamRussell.jpg/220px-LordWilliamRussell.jpg)
It was not until the formation of the country party (the forerunner of the Whig party),
On 15 February 1677, in the debate on the 15 months'
The alleged Popish Plot and the Monmouth Rebellion
Anti-French, warmongering alarms which culminated in the "discovery" in 1678 of the first "conspirators" of an alleged
Exclusion debates
On 4 November 1678, Russell moved an address to the King to exclude his brother James (at the time the
On 26 March 1681, in the
Rye House Plot
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Lord_William_Russell_1639-1683_Tower_Of_London_1683.jpg/300px-Lord_William_Russell_1639-1683_Tower_Of_London_1683.jpg)
He had no share in the schemes of Whig Lord Shaftesbury after the election of
This was followed by the unsuccessful Rye House Plot, a plan to ambush Charles II and his brother James near Rye House, Hoddesdon, on their way back to London from the Newmarket races. However, the plot was disclosed to the government. Unlike several co-conspirators, Russell refused to escape to Holland. He was accused of promising his assistance to raise an insurrection and bring about the death of the king. He was sent on 26 June 1683 to the Tower of London where he prepared himself for his death. Monmouth offered to return to England and be tried if doing so would help Russell, and Essex refused to abscond for fear of injuring his friend's chance of escape.[8] However, he was tried and convicted of treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, afterwards commuted by Charles II to death by beheading.
By the standards of the time (when those charged with treason rarely escaped death) he received a fair trial.
After the verdict Russell's wife and friends made desperate efforts to save him, making pleas for mercy to the King, the Duke of York, and the French Ambassador, Paul Barillon. Barillon informed the King that in the view of Louis XIV this was a suitable case for mercy, and James was at least prepared to listen to Russell's friends; but Charles was implacable, saying "if I do not take his life he will shortly take mine." Russell himself, in petitions to Charles and James, offered to live abroad if his life were spared, and never again to meddle in the affairs of England. He, however, refused an offer of escape from Cavendish.[9] Lady Russell obtained a private interview and went on her knees to the King, but to no avail: Charles, who had shown clemency to former opponents after his Restoration, no longer believed in showing mercy to his real or supposed enemies.
Execution
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Lord_W._Russell%27s_last_interview_with_his_family%27_%28William_Russell%2C_Lord_Russell%29_by_George_Noble_borderless.jpg/220px-Lord_W._Russell%27s_last_interview_with_his_family%27_%28William_Russell%2C_Lord_Russell%29_by_George_Noble_borderless.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/William_Lord_Russell_Plaque_Lincoln%27s_Inn_Fields.jpg/300px-William_Lord_Russell_Plaque_Lincoln%27s_Inn_Fields.jpg)
Russell spent his last day peacefully in the Tower, spending the morning in devotions with the Scottish archbishop Alexander Burnet.[9] He was beheaded by Jack Ketch on 21 July 1683 at Lincoln's Inn Fields. The execution was said to have been conducted very poorly:
On that occasion, Ketch wielded the instrument of death either with such sadistically nuanced skill or with such lack of simple dexterity – nobody could tell which – that the victim suffered horrifically under blow after blow, each excruciating but not in itself lethal. Even among the bloodthirsty throngs that habitually attended English beheadings, the gory and agonizing display had created such outrage that Ketch felt moved to write and publish a pamphlet titled Apologie, in which he excused his performance with the claim that Lord Russell had failed to "dispose himself as was most suitable" and that he was therefore distracted while taking aim on his neck.[10]
Russell was exonerated by reversal of his attainder under William III.
Russell did not confess; in fact, he pleaded that he knew of no plot to execute the king and was not party to any conspiracy to do so. He is recorded as having admitted to conspiring to levy a war.[11] Such a mini-invasion ultimately took place and was successful; simply put, Russell did not time his meetings correctly. He resigned himself rapidly to accept his fate with dignity while still stating his innocence, but was disappointed in the justice he had received, as laid out in his last letter before his death. Russell was later pardoned as having committed no part in a directly treasonous plot, casting the evidence as hearsay. The pardon remains an official document.
Whigs later commemorated him as a mistreated martyr, supposedly put to death in retaliation for his efforts to exclude James from succession to the crown.[12]
Several people were tried and convicted of seditious libel for publishing works about his ghost.[13][14]
Reference in film and television
In series 9 of the BBC genealogy programme, Who Do You Think You Are?, it was revealed that one of his eight-times great-granddaughters is the actress Celia Imrie. Although it was not mentioned in the episode in question, other descendants of William, Lord Russell include comedian Miranda Hart and actress Anna Chancellor.[citation needed]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Airy 1911, p. 866.
- ^ History of Parliament Online - Russell, Hon. William
- ^ a b Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 49. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 480–485.
- ^ thePeerage.com
- ^ britainexpress
- ^ Sir George Clarke. The Later Stuarts, 1660–1714 (2nd edition, Clarendon Press, 1955), 97–99.
- ^ Laurence Echard (History of England, ii.)
- ^ Airy 1911, pp. 866–867.
- ^ a b Airy 1911, p. 867.
- ISBN 978-1-59233-401-8. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
- ^ Old Bailey Proceedings Online (accessed 27 January 2018), Trial of William Russell. (t16830712-3, 12 July 1683).
- JSTOR 175444
- ^ Old Bailey Proceedings Online (accessed 27 January 2018), Trial of Langly Curtis. (o16831212-2, 12 December 1683).
- ^ Old Bailey Proceedings Online (accessed 27 January 2018), Trial of Thomas Ross. (t16910708-37, 8 July 1691).
References
- public domain: Airy, Osmund (1911). "Russell, Lord William". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 866–867. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the