John RUSSELL, 6TH DUKE OF BEDFORD

                   John Russell
1st Earl Russell
1846-52, 1865
LIBERAL
Russell began his political service in the House of Commons in 1813. He held cabinet posts in the governments of Charles Grey and William Lamb and became prime minister in 1846.
While in the Commons he was a supporter of Catholic emancipation and the Reform Bill of 1813. He helped write and carry the Reform Bill of 1832 which gave more men the right to vote. During his second term as prime minister he tried to pass another Reform Bill 1866. After it was defeated he retired as prime minister, but continued to serve in government, first as foreign secretary in Lord Aberdeen's government (1852) and later in Palmerston's second government (1859-65) where his indecisive foreign policy regarding the American Civil War, Denmark and Poland engendered heavy criticism. His relationship with Palmerston was an uneasy one, the only bright spot, his assistance to Italy in its struggle for unity.