Lieutenant-General Sir William Russell, 2nd Baronet (5 April 1822 – 19 March 1892), was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who served in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

and in the suppression of the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

, and then became a

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politician. He was a

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 o ...

(MP) for Dover from 1857 to 1859, and for

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from 1860 to 1874.

Early life

Russell was the son of Sir William Russell, 1st Baronet of Charlton Park (1773–1839) and his second wife Jane Eliza Russell, daughter of Major-General James Dodington Sherwood. Russell family vault

Military career

Russell entered the army as a Cornet in 1841, became a Lieutenant in February 1846, a captain in April 1857, a Major in August 1857, a lieutenant-colonel in November 1858, and colonel in July 1863. In April 1854, Sir William of the 7th Hussars was appointed as Aide-de-Camp to the Earl of St Germans, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He served in the

and during the

he served at Alumbagh and at the Siege of Lucknow, and commanded the 7th Hussars on further operations in India and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

. He received a medal and clasp, and was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1859.

Political career

He was elected at the 1857 general election as a

(MP) for Dover, but lost the seat at the 1859 general election. He returned to 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. T ...

the following year when he was elected at a by-election in March 1860 as one of the two MPs for

,Craig, pages 226–227 after an

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had led to the 1859 election in Norwich being declared void. He was re-elected in 1865 and in

1868 Events January–March * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...

, and held the seat until he retired from

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at the 1874 general election.

Family

In 1863, Russell married Margaret Wilson, the only child of Robert Wilson. By 1870 they had two children: William (born 28 Sept 1865) and Margaret Jane (born 21 August 1867). They are buried at Highgate Cemetery

Titles

Russell succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1839, and on his death in 1892, aged 69, he was succeeded in the title by his own son William Russell (1865–1915), on whose death the title became extinct.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, William 1822 births 1892 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British Army personnel of the Crimean War 7th Queen's Own Hussars officers Companions of the Order of the Bath