Background
He was born in 1653 at Chiswick, London. He was the son of the Hon. Edward Russell, a younger son of the 4th Earl of Bedford and Penelope Russell (née Hill).
He was born in 1653 at Chiswick, London. He was the son of the Hon. Edward Russell, a younger son of the 4th Earl of Bedford and Penelope Russell (née Hill).
Russell briefly attended St John's College, Cambridge and joined the Royal Navy in 1666.
In 1671 he was named lieutenant of the "Advice" at the age of eighteen, captain in the following year. He continued in active service against the Dutch in the North Sea in 1672-73, and in the Mediterranean in the operations against the Barbary Pirates with Sir John Narborough and Arthur Herbert, afterwards earl of Torrington, from 1676 to 1682.
In 1683 he ceased to be employed, and the reason must no doubt be looked for in the fact that all members of the Russell family had fallen into disfavour with the king, after the discovery of William, Lord Russell's connexion with the Rye House Plot.
The family had a private revenge to take which sharpened their sense of the danger run by British liberties from the tyranny of King Janies Throughout the negotiations preceding the revolution of 1688 Edward Russell appears acting on behalf and in the name of the head of this great Whig house, which did so much to bring it about, and profited by it so enormously in purse and power. He signed the invitation which William of Orange insisted on having in writing in order to commit the chiefs of the opposition to give him open help.
Edward Russell's prominence at this crisis was of itself enough to account for his importance after the Revolution.
When the war began with France in 1689, he served at first under the earl of Torrington. But during 1690, when that admiral avowed his intention of retiring to the Gunfleet, and of leaving the French in command of the Channel, Russell was one of those who condemned him most fiercely.
In December 1690 he succeeded Torrington, and during 1691 he cruised without meeting the French under Tourville, who made no attempt to meet him.
But he was always ready to fight the French, and in 1692 he defeated Tourville in the battle called La Hogue, or Barfleur.
Russell had Dutch allies with him, and they were greatly superior in number, but the chief difficulty encountered was in the pursuit, which Russell conducted with great resolution. His utter inability to work with the Tories, with whom William would not quarrel altogether, made his retirement imperative for a short time.
But in 1694 he was appointed to the command of the fleet which, taking advantage of the inability of the king of France to maintain a great fleet in the Channel from want of money, followed the French into the Mediterranean, confined them to Toulon for the rest of the war; and co-operated with the Spanish armies in Catalonia.
He returned in 1695, and in 1697 was created earl of Orford. For the rest of his life he filled posts of easy dignity and emolument, and died on the 26th of November 1727.
He married his cousin, Mary Russell; but his title became extinct on his death without issue.
He was one of the first gentleman efficers of the navy regularly bred to the sea. Russell was one of the Immortal Seven, a group of English noblemen who issued the Invitation to William, a document asking Prince William of Orange to depose King James II.
Based in the Netherlands, he served as Prince William’s secretary during the planning of William’s invasion of England and subsequent Glorious Revolution. He was fully engaged in providing naval support for the Williamite War in Ireland until the war ended and was Commander-in-Chief of the Anglo-Dutch force that fought the French fleet at Battle of Barfleur and destroyed much of it in a night attack at the Battle of La Hogue during Nine Years' War.
Russell went on to be First Lord of the Admiralty during the reign of William III and then held the office twice again in the reigns of Queen Anne and King George I. He was also MP for Launceston, for Portsmouth and then for Cambridgeshire.
Russell, like some of the other extreme Whigs, was discontented with the moderation of William of Orange and had entered into negotiations with the exiled court, partly out of spite, and partly to make themselves safe in case of a restoration.
Russell was elected Member of Parliament for Portsmouth in the general election in March 1690.
In November 1691, Russell married his cousin, Lady Margaret Russell, youngest daughter of the 5th Earl of Bedford (later the 1st Duke of Bedford); they had no children.
