Herbrand Arthur Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, (19 February 1858 – 27 August 1940) was an English politician and peer. He was the son of Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Sackville-West, daughter of George Sackville-West, 5th Earl De La Warr.

Family

He married Mary du Caurroy Tribe, on 30/31 January 1888 at

Barrackpore Barrackpore (also known as Barrackpur) is a city and a municipality of urban Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital ...

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Q ...

. She was appointed DBE and died in an aviation accident in 1937, three years before her husband. They had one child,

Hastings William Sackville Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford Hastings William Sackville Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford (21 December 1888 – 9 October 1953) was a British peer. He was born at Cairnsmore House, Minnigaff, Kirkcudbrightshire, the son of Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, and his wife ...

(1888–1953). Herbrand Russell took as his ward the illegitimate

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...

daughter of his older brother,

George Russell, 10th Duke of Bedford George William Francis Sackville Russell, 10th Duke of Bedford DL (16 April 1852 – 23 March 1893) was a British peer and politician. He was the son of Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford and Lady Elizabeth Sackville-West. Russell graduate ...

. The daughter was known to have lived with the family until she was married and frequently visited them afterwards.

Military career

He was commissioned in the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

and made Colonel of the 3rd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment between 1897 and 1908. He fought in the Egyptian campaign in 1882 and in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, where he was mentioned in dispatches.

Public duty

The Duke of Bedford held the office of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex between 1898 and 1926, Mayor of

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon ...

in 1900, Aide-de-Camp to the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...

between 1885 and 1886, Military Aide-de-Camp between 1908 and 1920 to

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

and King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...

, and sometime Deputy Lieutenant of Bedfordshire. He was President of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

from 1899 to 1936, and was concerned with animal preservation throughout his life. According to

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist. Seen as the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best kn ...

in her book ''Hope for Animals'', the Duke was instrumental in saving the milu (or Père David's deer), which was already extinct by 1900 in its native China. He acquired the few remaining deer from European zoos and nurtured a herd of them at

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors ...

. He gifted

Himalayan tahr The Himalayan tahr (''Hemitragus jemlahicus'') is a large even-toed ungulate native to the Himalayas in southern Tibet, northern India, western Bhutan and Nepal. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, as the population is declini ...

to the

New Zealand government , background_color = #012169 , image = New Zealand Government wordmark.svg , image_size=250px , date_established = , country = New Zealand , leader_title = Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern , appointed = Governor-General , main_organ = , ...

in 1903; of the three males and three females, five survived the journey and were released near the Hermitage Hotel at

Mount Cook Village Aoraki / Mount Cook, often referred to as Mount Cook Village, is located within New Zealand's Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park at the end of , only south of the summit of the country's highest mountain, also called Aoraki/Mount Cook, in the ...

. He sent a further shipment in 1909 of six males and two females. Himalayan tahr are near-threatened in their native India and Nepal, but are so numerous in New Zealand's Southern Alps that they are hunted recreationally. A statue of a Himalayan tahr was unveiled in May 2014 at

Lake Pukaki Lake Pukaki is the largest of three roughly parallel alpine lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin on New Zealand's South Island. The others are Lakes Tekapo and Ohau. All three lakes were formed when the t ...

and dedicated by Henrietta, Dowager Duchess of Bedford. Bedford served as president of the Cremation Society of Great Britain from 1921 to his death in 1940. He had the original cremator from Woking Crematorium moved and fitted inside the ''Bedford Chapel'', a new chapel at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £135,987 in 2021), ...

, where he was himself cremated. His ashes are buried in the 'Bedford Chapel' at St. Michael’s Church, Chenies.

Honours

The Duke of Bedford was invested as a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John (KGStJ), as a Fellow of the Society of Arts (FSA) on 14 March 1901, as Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG) on 30 May 1902, as Knight Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(KBE) in 1919, and as a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

(FRS) in 1908. He was made an honorary Freeman of Holborn in 1931. He was made an Honorary

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ( ...

(LL.D.) by

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI i ...

in 1906. His grandson Ian Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford describes him as follows: "A selfish, forbidding man, with a highly developed sense of public duty and ducal responsibility, he lived a cold, aloof existence, isolated from the outside world by a mass of servants, sycophants and an eleven-mile wall." In conjunction with his son Hastings Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford, he developed plans to protect the Bedford fortune from the British tax regime. However, he died too soon for these to come to fruition and the only result was to involve his grandson in enormous difficulties in obtaining access to the family properties. Herbrand and Hastings Russell feature largely in the 13th Duke's memoir, ''A Silver-Plated Spoon'' (World Books, 1959).

Ancestry

References

* "Burke's Peerage and Baronetage"

Bibliography

* Jane Goodall, with Thane Maynard and Gail Hudson, ''Hope for Animals and Their World: How endangered species are being rescued from the brink'', 2009, Grand Central Publishing

External links

*
Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke Of Grenadier Guards officers British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War British Army personnel of World War I Deputy Lieutenants of Bedfordshire

411 411 may refer to: * The year AD 411, the four hundred and eleventh year of the Gregorian calendar * 411 BC * 4-1-1, a telephone directory assistance number in the United States and Canada ** By extension, a slang term for "information" * ''What's ...

Russell, Herbrand Arthur Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Presidents of the Zoological Society of London Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Knights of Grace of the Order of St John Garter Knights appointed by Edward VII Lord-Lieutenants of Middlesex 1858 births 1940 deaths Herbrand