John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford

His Grace The Duke of Bedford KG PC FRS
The Duke of Bedford, by Sir Joshua Reynolds
Lord President of the Council
In office 9 September 1763 – 12 July 1765
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	George Grenville
Preceded by	The Earl Granville
Succeeded by	The Earl of Winchilsea
British Ambassador to France
In office 4 April 1762 – 1 June 1763
Preceded by	Vacant The Earl of Albemarle recalled due to the Seven Years' War
Succeeded by	The Earl of Hertford
Lord Privy Seal
In office 25 November 1761 – 22 April 1763
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	The Duke of Newcastle The Earl of Bute George Grenville
Preceded by	In Commission The Earl Temple, 5 October 1761
Succeeded by	The Duke of Marlborough
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
In office 3 January 1757 – 3 April 1761
Monarch	George II George III
Preceded by	The Duke of Devonshire
Succeeded by	The Earl of Halifax
Secretary of State for the Southern Department
In office 12 February 1748 – 13 June 1751
Monarch	George II
Prime Minister	Henry Pelham
Preceded by	The Duke of Newcastle
Succeeded by	The Earl of Holderness
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 27 December 1744 – 26 February 1748
Monarch	George II
Prime Minister	Henry Pelham
Preceded by	The Earl of Winchilsea
Succeeded by	The Earl of Sandwich
Personal details
Born	John Russell 30 September 1710 Streatham, Surrey Kingdom of Great Britain
Died	5 January 1771(1771-01-05) (aged 60) Woburn, Bedfordshire Kingdom of Great Britain
Resting place	Chenies, Buckinghamshire United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Lady Diana Spencer

John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford KG PC FRS (30 September 1710 – 5 January 1771) was an 18th-century British . He was the fourth son of Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Howland of Streatham, Surrey. Known as Lord John Russell, he married in October 1731 Diana Spencer, daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland; became Duke of Bedford on his brother’s death a year later; and having lost his first wife in 1735, married in April 1737 Lady Gertrude Leveson-Gower (died 1794), daughter of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower.

In the House of Lords he joined the Patriot Whig opposition hostile to the Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, took a fairly prominent part in public business, and earned the dislike of George II. When Carteret, now Earl Granville, resigned office in November 1744, Bedford became First Lord of the Admiralty in the administration of Henry Pelham, and was made a privy councillor. He was very successful at the admiralty, but was not equally fortunate after he became Secretary of State for the Southern Department in February 1748. Pelham accused him of idleness and he was constantly at variance with his colleague The Duke of Newcastle. Newcastle, who had previously admired The Earl of Sandwich, Bedford's successor as First Lord of the Admiralty, for his forthright and hardline views, had increasingly begun to distrust him and his relationship with Bedford. Newcastle engineered the dismissal of both of them, by sacking Sandwich in June 1751. Bedford resigned in protest, as Newcastle had calculated, allowing him to replace them with men he considered more loyal personally to him. During his time in the post he was accused of spending far too much time at his country estate playing cricket and shooting pheasants.