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Lord William Russell (20 August 1767 – 5 May 1840) was a member of the British aristocratic Russell family and longtime
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
. He did little to attract public attention after the end of his political career until, in 1840, he was murdered in his sleep by his valet.


Life

Russell was the posthumous child of
Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock Francis Russell, Marquess of Tavistock (27 September 1739 – 22 March 1767) was a British politician and the eldest son of the 4th Duke of Bedford and his second wife Lady Gertrude Leveson-Gower. From 1759 to 1761, he sat in the Irish House of ...
, eldest son of
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, (30 September 17105 January 1771) was an 18th-century British statesman.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peera ...
. He was the youngest brother of
Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford (23 July 1765 – 2 March 1802) was an English aristocrat and Whig politician, responsible for much of the development of central Bloomsbury. Life Francis Russell, eldest son of Francis Russell, Marquess of ...
, and
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, (6 July 1766 – 20 October 1839), known as Lord John Russell until 1802, was a British Whig politician who notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Ministry of All the Talents. He was the fathe ...
, and uncle of
Francis Russell, 7th Duke of Bedford Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...
. Russell married Lady Charlotte Villiers, eldest daughter of
George Bussy Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey George Bussy Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey, PC (9 June 173522 August 1805, Tunbridge Wells) was an English nobleman, peer, politician and courtier at the court of George III. He was the oldest surviving son of William Villiers, 3rd Earl of Jer ...
, on 11 July 1789; they had seven children. Lady Charlotte died in 1808. As was mentioned in evidence at the trial of his murderer, Russell had a locket containing some of his wife's hair, which he valued greatly. ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', reporting on proceedings where Russell's eligibility to register as a voter in Middlesex and Surrey was challenged in 1836, included the information that he spent much time abroad, living in hotels when in England. However, by 1840 Lord William was residing in the London house where he was murdered.


Political career

As with many members of the Russell family, notably his nephew the future Prime Minister
Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and ag ...
(who was Colonial Secretary at the time of the murder), Lord William was a Whig politician. Russell represented the county of
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
from 1789 until he was defeated in the 1807 election. Russell held junior ministerial office in the Ministry of all the Talents, being appointed a
Lord of the Admiralty This is a list of Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty (incomplete before the Restoration, 1660). The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of The Board of Admiralty, which exercised the office of Lord High Admiral when it was n ...
in 1806 and retaining the post until the fall of the ministry in 1807. Russell, taking advantage of the fact that different constituencies polled on different dates, remained in Parliament by being elected for the Russell family
pocket borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...
of
Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...
. He represented that constituency from 1807 until he stood down in 1819, and again from 1826 until he retired from Parliament in 1831. During a brief stay in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
in 1821, Russell studied at the
San Lazzaro degli Armeni San Lazzaro degli Armeni (, "Saint Lazarus of the Armenians"; called Saint Lazarus Island in English sources; hy, Սուրբ Ղազար, Surb Ghazar) is a small island in the Venetian Lagoon which has been home to the monastery of the Mekhitar ...
. Lord William continued to support the Whig Party after he left the legislature. ''The Times'' reported in 1837 that few Whigs supported the government at the Great Middlesex Meeting, "inasmuch as not a man of them, barring the young Lord who had taken the chair, and his aged uncle Lord William Russell, ever showed fight at all".


Murder and investigation

On the morning of 6 May 1840, Russell's housemaid, Sarah Mancer, discovered the lower floors of the house in Norfolk Street (now called
Dunraven Street Dunraven Street is a street in London's Mayfair district. It was laid out in the 1750s as Norfolk Street, and in the 19th century was sometimes known as New Norfolk Street. In 1939, it was renamed Dunraven Street by London County Council, after ...
) in disarray. Fearing that a robbery had taken place in the night, she went to the room of the Swiss valet,
François Benjamin Courvoisier François Benjamin Courvoisier (August 1816 – 6 July 1840) was a Swiss-born valet who was convicted of murdering his employer Lord William Russell in London, England, and hanged outside Newgate Prison on 6 July 1840. A crowd of around 40,000 w ...
, and found him already dressed. Upon seeing the state of the house, he agreed that a robbery must have occurred; Courvoisier and Mancer then went to Russell's bedchamber, where Courvoisier immediately began to open the shutters, as he always did. Thus it was Mancer who first noticed that Russell was dead; his throat had been cut. The police were summoned; Courvoisier drew their attention to marks of violence upon the door to his pantry, asserting that this was where the robbers had entered the house. A provincial doctor, Robert Blake Overton, wrote to
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...
suggesting checking for
fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...
s but the suggestion, though followed up, did not lead to routine use of fingerprinting by the police for another 50 years. The police, however, came quickly to the conclusion that the "robbery" had been staged in order to draw suspicion away from some member of the household. Numerous small gold and silver articles, as well as a ten- pound
banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...
, were found to be missing; some of the articles were soon discovered wrapped in a parcel inside the house, which was curious – a thief would have carried them off straightaway rather than leave them behind. The discovery of several more gold articles, as well as the banknote, hidden in the
wainscoting Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make roo ...
and in Courvoisier's pantry cemented their suspicion of the valet. Additionally, a
screwdriver A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver has been repla ...
in his possession was found to match the marks on the pantry door as well as marks left by the forcing of the
silverware Silverware may refer to: * Household silver including **Tableware **Cutlery **Candlesticks *The work of a silversmith * Silverware is also a slang term for a collection of trophies A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achieveme ...
drawer. Courvoisier was put on trial, but the question was whether his guilt could be conclusively proven. His counsel, Charles Phillips, was doing well on the paucity of evidence, such as the lack of blood on Courvoisier's clothes, unusual in a cut-throat murder. Phillips was supposed by some to be hinting at the guilt of a maidservant in the house, when an inventory indicated that several further items of silverware were missing, and silver matching their description was located in a French hotel in
Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...
. Samuel Warren defended Phillips against the charge he had ever imputed guilt to any woman in the house, in his 1855 book, ''The Mystery of Murder, and its Defence''. This report was conveyed to Courvoisier by his barrister, and he immediately confessed to both the thefts and the murder. Phillips asked his client if he now planned to change his plea from not guilty to guilty. Courvoisier insisted on maintaining the not guilty plea, and said he expected Phillips to continue the defence on that basis. The legal interest in the case arises from Phillips' approach to the judge for guidance. He was forcefully told he could not ask for such advice, so he continued the defence, knowing that his client was guilty. It led to considerable public criticism of Phillips after the trial, some papers saying he had tried to fix the blame on the maid, although the transcript shows he had specifically disclaimed making any such imputation during the trial. He did expose the fact that a policeman had planted a pair of bloody gloves in the defendant's things. It emerged in Courvoisier's confession that Russell had discovered his silverware thefts and ordered Courvoisier to resign from the household. Rather than lose his position, Courvoisier decided to conceal the matter by murdering Russell. The lack of blood on Courvoisier's clothes was then explained; he had committed the crime while naked. Courvoisier had reportedly read
William Harrison Ainsworth William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...
's novel ''
Jack Sheppard Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...
'' in the days leading up to the crime, and several news reports implied that the novel's glorification of criminal life had led him to commit the murder. However, this avenue was not pursued in Courvoisier's court defence. Courvoisier was publicly hanged outside
Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...
on 6 July 1840.
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
was among the estimated crowd of 40,000 who attended. Also present was the novelist
William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...
, who subsequently wrote an anti-capital punishment essay, ''On Going to See a Man Hanged''. He wrote, "I came away that morning with a disgust for murder, but it was for the murder I saw done … I feel myself shamed and degraded at the brutal curiosity that took me to that spot." Soon afterwards the murder scene was portrayed in a peep-show at a travelling fair.


References

Notes Bibliography *


Further reading

*Yseult Bridges ''Two Studies in Crime: Studies of the Murders of Lord William Russell and Julia Wallace'' (1959), Macmillan *Herbert Candy, "Old Haslemere", ''
The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...
'', Vol CCLXXVI, January–June 1894, p 208 *Michael Diamond, ''Victorian Sensation'', (Anthem Press, 2003) , pp. 154–158. An account of Courvoisier's trial. *David Mellinkoff, ''The Conscience of a Lawyer'' (St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing, Co., 1973), 304p. A study of the legal problems facing Courvoisier's barrister, Charles Phillips, in the defence of his client. *''The Parliaments of England'' by Henry Stooks Smith (1st edition published in three volumes 1844–50), second edition edited (in one volume) by F.W.S. Craig (Political Reference Publications 1973) ''out of copyright'' *''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', 29 October 1836 (Middlesex registration), 1 November 1836 (Surrey registration) and 26 January 1837 (Great Middlesex Meeting).


External links

*
Information on the case
in
The Newgate Calendar ''The Newgate Calendar'', subtitled ''The Malefactors' Bloody Register'', was a popular work of improving literature in the 18th and 19th centuries. Originally a monthly wikt:bulletin, bulletin of executions, produced by the Prison governor, ...

Information on the case
in ''
The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Lord William 1767 births 1840 deaths British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796
William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
Deaths by stabbing in London English murder victims Lords of the Admiralty Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Tavistock People murdered in London UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 Younger sons of marquesses San Lazzaro degli Armeni alumni Assassinated English politicians