John Ian Robert Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford, styled Lord Howland until 1940 and Marquess of Tavistock between 1940 and 1953, was a British peer and writer
Background
Russell was the son of Hastings Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford. He had a very strained relationship with his father and grandfather, who during his early years refused to give him the allowance he felt would be appropriate for a future Duke. His father eventually tied up most of the Bedford fortune in trust so that he could not borrow against lieutenant
Career
The 13th Duke was known in his youth as Ian, with the courtesy title Lord Howland. In 1940 his father succeeded to the dukedom and Lord Howland acquired the courtesy title Marquess of Tavistock. Russell started his career as a rent collector in 1938, in Stepney.
He then joined the Coldstream Guards in 1939 and fought in the Second World War between 1939 and 1940, but left the army after being invalided.
He then turned to journalism and became a reporter for the Daily Express in 1940. He published:
A Silver-Plated Spoon (1959)
The Duke of Bedford"s Book of Snobs (1965)
The Flying Duchess (1968)
How to Run a Stately Home (1971)
Russell was the first Duke of Bedford to open Woburn Abbey up to the public, a move that alienated him from many of his peers.
He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1985. Bedford married Clare Gwendolen (née Bridgman) Hollway (1903–1945) on 6 April 1939.
She died of a drug overdose in 1945.
They had two children:
Henry Robin Ian Russell, 14th Duke of Bedford (1940–2003)
Lord Rudolf Russell (b 7 March 1944)
They had one child:
Lord Francis Hastings Russell (b 27 February 1950)
Bedford married, thirdly, Nicole (Schneider) Milinaire (29 June 1920 – 7 September 2012) on 4 September 1960. There were no children from this marriage. Bedford died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2002.