Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford

Francis Russell, The 4th Earl of Bedford
Born	1593
Died	9 May 1641
Spouse(s)	Catherine Brydges
Parent(s)	Baron Russell of Thornhaugh and Elizabeth Long

Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford PC (1593 – 9 May 1641) was an English politician. (The baptismal records for St Mary's Church Watford, in the Hertfordshire Record Office, indicate that Francis Russell, only son of Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, was actually born in 1587). About 1631 he built the square of Covent Garden, with the piazza and church of St. Paul's, employing Inigo Jones as his architect. He is also known for his pioneering project to drain The Fens of Cambridgeshire.

He was the only son of William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh and his wife Elizabeth Long, to which barony he succeeded in August 1613. For a short time previously he had been Member of Parliament for the borough of Lyme Regis. In 1623 he was made Lord Lieutenant of Devon and on 3 May 1627 became Earl of Bedford on the death of his cousin Edward Russell, 3rd Earl of Bedford.

In 1621 Russell was one of the thirty-three peers who petitioned James I on the prejudice caused to the English peerage by the lavish grant of Irish and Scottish titles of nobility. In 1628, during the debates on the Petition of Right, he supported the demands of the House of Commons, and was a member of the committee which reported against the king's right to imprison. In May he was sent down to Devon, ostensibly to assist in refitting the fleet returned from Rochelle, but according to report, on account of his opposition in the House of Lords. Bedford was one of the three peers implicated in the circulation of Sir Robert Dudley's Proposition for His Majesty s Service (the others being William Seymour, Earl of Hertford and John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare), was arrested on 5 November 1629, and was brought before the Star-chamber. The prosecution, however, was dropped when the real nature of the paper was discovered, and Bedford was quickly released.

...
Wikipedia