A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



son of William Lord Russell, died in 1711,*'' and was succeeded by his 

 son of the same name. The third duke was not much of a politician, 

 indeed he devoted his energies to high play, and in a short time some- 

 what embarrassed the property and destroyed his own health. In 1726 

 Mrs. Osborn gives some account of his attitude to politics and the representa- 

 I tion of the county. At the time he was not yet of age, but was already 

 j married. In October 1726 he summoned a meeting of the Bedfordshire 

 gentry at the Bell Inn at Bedford. As the meeting was understood to 

 concern the impending election, and the ' Bell ' was a Tory inn, there was some 

 excitement. Sir Rowland Alston and Mr. Brown came to consult Lord 

 Torrington, whereupon he and his son Pattee ' and several more of the Whig 

 gentlemen ' went off to Wrest to consult with the Duke of Kent. It was 

 decided that all but the two noblemen should muster all the Whigs of the 

 county and go to the meeting prepared to oppose any Tory. The Duke of 

 Kent wanted Pattee Byng to stand ; 'Beacher will not be at the expense'; it was 

 suggested that Ongley had ' hardly any principles,' was at least ' not violent if 

 a Tory,' and it would be as well to court him and bring him over to the Whig 

 interest. ' My brother carrys him and Brownsel [Bromsall] and Hervey with 

 him in his coach to Bedford, and then is to carry him to the Whig Inn, where 

 they will meet Alston, Orlebar, and all the Whigs.' It was thought the duke 

 meant to have Leigh and Monoux, 'who are both good Tories.' ' Tis a sign 

 Duke Bedford is a gidey hot-headed Creature or he would not delight to study 

 an expensive Election to his neighbours.' *" When Mrs. Osborn wrote the 

 two county members were Charles Leigh of Leighton Buzzard, a brother of 

 Lord Leigh, and Sir Rowland Alston. Pattee Byng and Sir Rowland Alston 

 were eventually returned at the election of 1727, but when Byng succeeded 

 as second Viscount Torrington in 1732—3 Charles Leigh again became member 

 for the county. In 1734 John Spencer and Sir Rowland Alston were elected 

 for the county, but as John Spencer elected to sit for Woodstock in Feb- 

 ruary 1734—5 he was succeeded by Sir Roger Burgoyne. 'The populace 

 of Bedford are most discontented at having no opposition for the town,' 

 writes Mrs. Osborn, 27 April 1734.*^' Sir Jeremy Vanacher Sambroke 

 (succeeded on his death in 1740 by Sir Boteler Chernock) and Samuel Ongley 

 were returned. 



John, fourth Duke of Bedford, who took a leading part in national 

 politics from the day when he succeeded his brother and joined the combined 

 assault on Walpole in 1732 till his death in 1771, has suffered in reputation 

 from the odium attached to the tactics of the so-called ' Bloomsbury gang * 

 between 1760 and 1768, but a caveat may at least be entered against a hasty 

 condemnation, on this ground, of the private or public character of the duke 

 himself."' 



'" Did. Nat. Biog. He was lord-lieutenant of Beds. ; Collins, op. cit. i, 123. 



•" PoRt. andSoc. Lett. 38-9. 



*" Ibid. 53. Sir Roger Burgoyne and Mr. Beacher were spoken of as likely to contest the borough, but 

 it was not thought that they had much chance ; ibid. Sambroke is not a Bedfordshire name, and Sir Jeremy 

 may have been a nominee of the Duke of Bedford. 



"' See Macaulay, Essays, especially that on Earl of Chatham ; Lett, of Junius, whose unfair attack is answered 

 in detail by Lord Brougham in Sketches 0/ Statesmen, &c.; Trevelyan, Early Tears of C. J. Fox ; WifFen, Hist. 

 Mem. House of Russell; Horace Walpole, Letters ; Burke, Present Discontents, American Taxation, &c. He was. 

 born 1709 ; married Gertrude dau. of ist Lord Gower, sister of Countess of Upper Ossory and cousin of Lady 

 Bute, 1737 ; agreed to support the Pelhams, 1744 ; First Lord of Admiralty, 1745-8 ; Secretary of State,, 

 1 748-5 1 ; Newcastle made overtures to him through Fox ; he refused ' while Newcastle was at head of afiairs * 



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