ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY OF RUSSELL. THE FIRST EARL OF BEDFORD.
WILLIAM, EARL OF Bedford.
THE family of Russell seems to have been long in possession of a small landed property in Dorsetshire. In 1221 John Russell was constable of Corfe Castle. William Russell, in 1284, obtained a charter for a market at his manor of Kington-Russell. In the first year of Edward the Second, he was returned to parliament one of the knights for the county of Southampton. Sir John Russell, the lineal descendant of William, was Speaker of the House of Commons in the second and tenth years of the reign of Henry VI. His son John Russell lived at Barwick, about four miles from Bridport. * A fortunate occurrence opened the way to wealth and honour.
In the twenty-first year of the reign of Henry VII., Philip, Archduke of Austria, and in right of his wife, King of Castile, having encountered a violent storm on his passage from Flanders to Spain, was obliged to put into Weymouth. Sir Thomas Trenchard, who lived near the port, entertained him in the best manner he was able, till he could acquaint the King with his arrival. In the mean time he sent for Mr. Russell, who had travelled abroad, and was acquainted with foreign languages. The Archduke was so much pleased with Mr. Russell
Dugdale's Baronage, v. ii. p. 277.