John Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC, known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. He was born into a background of the utmost privilege; the Russell family had been one of the principal Whig dynasties in England since the 17th century, and were among the richest handful of aristocratic landowning families in the country, but as a younger son of the 6th Duke of Bedford he was not in line to inherit the family estates; (18 August 1792–28 May 1878).