A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Russell, Lady Rachel
RUSSELL, LADY RACHEL,
Second daughter of Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, was born in 1636. She married first. Lord Vaughan; and after his death she married, in 1669, William, Lord Russell, third son of William, first Duke of Bedford. One son and two daughters were the fruits of this union, which was a. very happy one, though Lady Rachel was four or five years older than her husband. Lord Russell, being implicated in a conspiracy with the Duke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles the Second, Algernon Sidney, John Hampden, grandson to the celebrated patriot of that name, Essex, and Howard, to prevent the succession of the Duke of York to the throne, was arrested and sent to the Tower. Monmouth fled; Howard saved himself by revealing his accomplices; and Essex, Sidney, and Hampden, were apprehended on his evidence They were also accused of conspiring against the life of Charles the Second, which was not true. The Protestant succession, and the prevention of encroachments on the liberties of the people, were their chief objects.
The day previous to the trial of Lord Russell, he had asked leave of the court that notes of the evidence might be taken for his use. He was informed that he might have the assistance of one of his servants. "I ask no assistance," said he, "but that of the lady who sits by me." The spectators, seeing the daughter of the virtuous Southampton thus assisting her husband in his distress, melted into tears. The Duke of Bedford offered the Duchess of Portsmouth one hundred thousand pounds to procure her interest with the king for the pardon of his son. But every application proved vain. The independent spirit, patriotism, popularity, courage, talents, and virtues of the prisoner, were his most dangerous offences, and became so many arguments against his escape.
Lady Russell threw herself at the feet of the king, and pleaded with tears the merits and loyalty of her father, as an atonement for her husband's offences. But Charles remained unmoved, and even rejected her petition for a respite of a few weeks. On finding every effort fruitless for saving the life of her husband, she collected her courage, and fortified her mind for the fatal stroke, confirming by her example the resolution of her husband. His courage never appeared to falter, but when he spoke of his wife; his eyes would then fill with tears, and he appeared anxious to avoid the subject. When parting from Lady Russell, they mutually preserved a solemn silence; and when she left him, he said, "The bitterness of depth was past" He then expressed his gratitude to Providence that had given him a wife who, to birth, fortune, talents, and virtue, united sensibility of heart; and whose conduct, in this trying crisis, had even surpassed all her other virtues.
Lord Russell was executed, July 21st., 1683. His widow proved the faithful guardian of his honour, a wise and active mother to his children, and the friend and patroness of his friends.
Her letters, written after . her husband's death, give a touching picture of her conjugal affection and fidelity; but no expression of resentment or traces of a vindictive spirit mingle with the sentiment of grief by which they are pervaded.
Her only son, Wriothesley, Duke of Bedford, died in 1711, of the small-pox; and soon after her daughter, the Duchess of Rutland, died in childbed. Her other daughter, the Duchess of Devonshire, was also in childbed at the time of her sister's death; and Lady Russell again was called upon to give new proofs of her self-control. After beholding one daughter in her coffin, she went to the chamber of the other with a tranquil countenance. The Duchess of Devonshire earnestly inquiring after her sister, Lady Russell calmly replied, "I have seen your sister out of bed to-day."
Some years after her husband's death, she was under apprehensions of an entire loss of sight; but this was prevented by an operation. Lady Russell died, September 29th., 1723, aged eighty-seven.