The Lord Ampthill | |
|---|---|
 Lithograph of Russell, byJosef Kriehuber, 1846 | |
| British Ambassador to the German Empire | |
| In office 1871–1884 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | Lord Augustus Loftus |
| Succeeded by | Edward Malet |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 February 1829 (1829-02-20) Florence, Tuscany |
| Died | 25 August 1884 (1884-08-26) (aged 55) Potsdam, Germany |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse | Lady Emily Villiers |
| Children | 6, includingArthur andOdo |
| Parent(s) | Lord George Russell Elizabeth Anne Rawdon |
Odo William Leopold Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill,GCB, GCMG, PC (20 February 1829 – 25 August 1884), styledLord Odo Russell between 1872 and 1881, was a British diplomat and the firstBritish Ambassador to the German Empire.
Russell was born inFlorence, Tuscany, into theRussell family, one of England's leadingWhig aristocratic families. His father wasMajor-GeneralLord George Russell, second son of the6th Duke of Bedford. His mother wasElizabeth Anne Rawdon, daughter ofJohn Theophilus Rawdon and niece of the1st Marquess of Hastings. His uncle was the1st Earl Russell, twicePrime Minister of the United Kingdom.
His education, like that of his two brothers,Francis andArthur, was carried on entirely at home, under the general direction of his mother.[1]
In March 1849 Russell was appointed byLord Malmesbury as attaché atVienna. From 1850 to 1852 he was temporarily employed in the foreign office, whence he passed to Paris. He remained there, however, only about two months, when he was transferred to Vienna. In 1853 he became second paid attaché at Paris, and in August 1854 he was transferred as first paid attaché toConstantinople, where he served underLord Stratford de Redcliffe. He had charge of the embassy during his chief's two visits to theCrimea in 1855, but left the East to work underLord Napier atWashington in 1857. In the following year he became secretary of legation at Florence, but was detached from that place to reside in Rome, where he remained for twelve years, until August 1870. During all that period he was the real though unofficial representative of Britain at theVatican.[1]
Russell's personal success withOtto von Bismarck led to his appointment as ambassador at Berlin in October 1871. He admired the new Germany and liked Germans: during his thirteen years in Berlin he never forfeited the confidence of Bismarck. Just as he had understood his Constantinople chief, Stratford de Redcliffe, and had never been broken by his suspicious rages, so too he achieved a sympathetic understanding of Bismarck. He withstood the Iron Chancellor's rages about real or imaginary plots, dispelled his darkest suspicions of British policy, and penetrated to the core of Bismarckian motives and strategy. For example, he reported to London in October 1872 how Bismarck's plans for aKulturkampf were backfiring by strengthening the ultramontane (pro-papal) position inside German Catholicism:
Russell was trusted byVictoria, the Crown Princess and theHohenzollerns, but his cordiality to Bismarck's enemies was never tainted by the suspicion of intrigue. Nor was the objectivity of his dispatches compromised by his private belief thatKulturkampf must fail, or by his revulsion at Bismarck's persecution ofRoman Catholicism. From the outset, he recognised Germany's colonial aspirations, though his appreciation of this complex situation was imperfect. In 1879 he was responsible for the novelty of attaching a commercial expert to the Berlin embassy staff.
After his eldest brother became eventually9th Duke of Bedford in 1872, Russell was granted the rank of a younger son of a duke, becoming known asLord Odo Russell.[3] He was sworn of thePrivy Council the same year.[4] He was subsequently made a Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of the Bath (GCB) in 1874,[5] a Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 1879,[6] and raised to the peerage asBaron Ampthill, ofAmpthill in the County of Bedford, in 1881.[7] He was British delegate at theCongress of Berlin in 1878, along with Disraeli, Salisbury and Lord Lyons.[8]
On 5 May 1868, Russell was married toLady Emily Theresa Villiers,[9] daughter ofGeorge Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon and Lady Katherine Grimston (daughter of the1st Earl of Verulam). Together, they had six children:[10]
Lord Ampthill died ofperitonitis on 25 August 1884, aged 55, at his summer villa atPotsdam, and was interred on 3 September in the 'Bedford Chapel' atSt. Michael's Church,Chenies,Buckinghamshire, England. Bismarck thought him irreplaceable.[11] Lady Ampthill died in February 1927, aged 83.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ampthill, Odo William Leopold Russell, 1st Baron".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 893.| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byas Ambassador to theNorth German Confederation | British Ambassador to the German Empire 1871–1884 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Ampthill 1881–1884 | Succeeded by |
