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 George John Sackville-West, 5th Earl de la Warr, PC (26 October 1791 – 23 February 1869), styled Viscount Cantelupe until 1795, was a British courtier and Tory politician. Background Sackville-West was the son of John West, 4th Earl De L ...

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 of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (K ...

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

. 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 (1888–1953). Herbrand Russell took as his ward the illegitimate Anglo-Indian daughter of his older brother, George Russell, 10th Duke of Bedford. 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 The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the final title of a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was originally formed in 1688. After centuries of service in many conflicts and wars, including both the First and Second World Wa ...

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 List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, 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 Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its ro ...

in 1900, Aide-de-Camp to the Viceroy of India 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 his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

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 ...

, 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 The Père David's deer (''Elaphurus davidianus''), also known as the ''milu'' () or elaphure, is a species of deer native to the subtropical river valleys of China. It grazes mainly on grass and aquatic plants. It is the only extant member of ...

), 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. 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 de ...

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 The Hermitage Hotel, is a historic hotel located at 231 6th Avenue North in Nashville, Tennessee. Commissioned by 250 Nashville residents in 1908 and named for Andrew Jackson's estate, The Hermitage near Nashville, the hotel opened in 1910. It ...

at Mount Cook Village. 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 te ...

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 Woking Crematorium is a crematorium in Woking, a large town in the west of Surrey, England. Established in 1878, it was the first custom-built crematorium in the United Kingdom and is closely linked to the history of cremation in the UK. ...

moved and fitted inside the ''Bedford Chapel'', a new chapel at Golders Green Crematorium, 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 ...

(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 mathemati ...

(FRS) in 1908. He was made an honorary Freeman of Holborn in 1931. He was made an Honorary Doctor of Law (LL.D.) by Edinburgh University in 1906. His grandson

Ian Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford John Ian Robert Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford (24 May 1917 – 25 October 2002), styled Lord Howland until 1940, and styled Marquess of Tavistock from 1940 until 1953, was a writer and a British peer. As a businessman, the Duke and J. Chipperf ...

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 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