John Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl of Russell, was born on 18th August 1792 in London and he died there as well on 28th May 1878. He is known for being Prime Minister under Queen Victoria for two legislatory periods from July 1846 to February 1852 and from October 1865 to June 1866.

His Life

John Russell was the third son of John Russell, sixth Duke of Bedford, who was a known politician during his time. Very soon John Russell became a member of the Whigs. At the age of 21 he became a member of the House of Commons for Tavistock with the help of his father's constituency. Since 1819 he started regular campaigns to reform the elections of parliament. At first however these bills were rejected by parliament in the first reading. It was only in 1826 that his proposal to restructure small constituencies and to integrate them into larger ones achieved a second reading after which the bill was rejected again.

By fighting for reforms of election processes he gained huge respects among the Whigs, especially when he successfully fought for the emancipation of Catholics within the British population by abolishing the Test Acts in 1829.

In 1830 he started a new attempt to reform the British election process by introducing a new bill which intended to provide a representation in parliament for the cities Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham. The bill was not successful again. Nevertheless John Russell was appointed Paymaster General in the parliament of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey.

After two years of work under Charles Grey, Russell handed in a reform bill again which was then accepted. This bill offered more people, especially the ones living in the north and lower class people, the right to vote for parliament if they fulfilled certain preconditions (e.g. owning a household worth at least 10 pounds).

In 1834 the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Lord Melbourne, resigned from office and so did John Russell from now on representing the opposition under PM Robert Peel. In 1835 Peel had to resign from his position as Prime Minister and John Russell took the position of Home Secretary until 1839. From 1839 to 1841 he served as Secretary of War and the Colonies.

The General Election of 1841 was however won by the Conservatives. That is why Russell became MP for the City of London until 1861. On 30th July1861 he became Earl Russell and as a peer he became a member of the House of Lords.

John Russell's first government (from July 1846 to February 1852)

In 1846, after Robert Peel's resignation, John Russell became the official head of the Whigs and at the same time the Prime Minister of Great Britain. It was his achievement to shorten working hours in factories by introducing the Factory Act in 1847. Moreover he passed the Public Health Act of 1848 and repealed the Navigation Act of 1849 which freed colonial trade.

From 1846 to 1847 Ireland suffered from the Great Famine but Russell and his government were not able to tackle the problem. Russell believed in the so-called laissez-faire economy which meant that each state should be able to help itself. John Russell was convinced that no direct state intervention should be applied in any case of misery.

Soon however Russell had to realise that the starving did not stop. Instead it became worse as even illnesses widespread throughout Ireland. That is why he offered a little bit of money for soup kitchens to help the people out. As the money was spent he rejected to support the country further as Ireland was not able to pay the Poor Law rates. He demanded that first Ireland had to pay this rate and then he would support the country further with money. This announcement led to violent riots as Russell even sent British troops to Ireland to get the money.

In December 1851 John Russell had a big argument with Lord Palmerston which led to the downfall of Prime Minister Russell in February 1852. From that moment on John Russell took over different offices as for example the administration of the colonies.

John Russell's second government (from October 1865 to June 1866)

On 18th October 1865 Lord Palmerston died and John Russell took again over the office of Prime Minister of Great Britain. The office of the foreign minister was held by George Villiers, fourth Earl of Clarendon.

As there were however some big discussions with William Gladstone John Russell resigned from office again. Since this point of time he never held any other office. He only worked for the House of Lords until his death in 1878.

Further Reading

Cook, Chris, The Routledge Companion to Britain in the Nineteenth Century ,1815- 1914, London, 2005.

Reid, Stuart J., The Queen's Prime Ministers, Volume IX: Lord John Russell. Gloucester, 2009.