The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-23 00:00:00

DEATH OF LORD WILLIAM
RUSSELL. G.C.B.

An elder brother of the Premier and a distinguished
member of the ducal house of Bedford, has ended his days
rather prematurely, for the subject of this notice was only
two years older than Lord John Russell. The deceased
nobleman was the second son of the late Duke of Bedford,
but he was born during the lifetime of the preceding Duke ;
his father, therefore, was then known as Lord John Russell,
because, though he eventually succeeded to the dukedom,
he was not. the eldest son of his house. Lord George Wil-
liam Russell, of whose life and character we now propose to
give a brief account, has been usually called Lord William
Russell, ever since the peath of his uncle, who was murdered
by Courvoisier. His Lordship was born in Harley-street,
London, on the Bth of May, 1790, and he had therefore at the
time of his lamented death only just completed the 56th year
of his age; his mother was the first wife of the late Duke,
and second daughter of George, fourth Viscount Torrington.
Being destined for the military profession, a com-
mission was obtained for him at a very early age ;
and he was gazetted as cornet in the Ist Dragoons on the
sth of February, 1806, just three months before he had com-
pleted his 16th year; he was in a few months afterwards
raised to the rank of a lieutenant, and entered upon the duties
of active life some years earlier than the usual age at which
youths go to college. Of his scientific or classical attain-
ments there is therefore little to be related. But he pos-
sessed a competent knowledge of modern languages, and he
derived from nature that which is far more valuable than
any information which preceptors can communicate—a sub-
stantial fund of common sense. This quality a large inter-
course with camps and courts did not fail materially to
extend and strengthen. When he had reached the age of 18 he
was entrusted with the command of a troop in the 23d Dras
goons. He served on the staff at the siege of Copenhagen
in 1807, and embarked with the 23d Dragoons for
Lisbon in 1809, where lie landed with that regiment,
and accompanied them to the battle of Talavera, on
which occasion he was wounded. At Cadiz he served
as Aide-de-Camp to Lord Lynedoch, and he served
subsequently as Aide-de-Camp to the Duke of Wel-
lington on several occasions ; amongst others, at the
battle of Vittoria. To this enumeration of his services we
may add that he was present at the storming of San Sebas-
tian, and that he accompanied the British army on its en-
trance into France, having been at the battles of Orthes and
Toulouse. for the latter of which he received a medal. The
brevet of November, 1841, raised him to the rank of Major-
General. Before the siege of San Sebastian he had ceased to
be a cavalry officer, having obtained a majority in the 102 d
Regimer t of Infantry, and he became a Colonel by brevet in
the month of April, 1814. The war being ended, he, of
course, returned with the rest of the army, and continued in
command of his regiment at its various quarters in England
and Ireland, as well as at Corfu. He continued this some-
what listless sort of life until his political friends got into
power in 1830. Whatever might have been thought
amidst the select circle of his intimate acquaintance, the
world at large had no reason to suppose that he pos-
sessed any talents to fit him for diplomatic life ; but
Lord John Russell was then Paymaster of the Forces,
and the influence of the house of Bedford, quite in the
ascendant ; Lord W. Russell, therefore, attached himself, with
every prospect of success, to one of our most important
foreign embassies, that of Sir Robert Adair, who represented
England in the Netherlands during that struggle between
Holland and Belgium which ended in placing King Leopold
upon the throne of the latter country. Every one remembers
that there was not (lily much negotiation, but some fighting
upon that occasion, and the military experience of Lord
William Russell proved a valuable adjunct to the skill in ne-
gotiation for which Sir Robert Adair had been justly cele-
brated. As the results of those proceedings belong more to
the history of Europe than to a personal narrative, we may
proceed to state that this debut of Lord William Russell as a
diplomatist proved so successful that in the following year
he was rent on a special mission to Lisbon, the ob-
ject of which was to assist in arranging the differ-
ences which prevailed among the members of the
house of Braganza, and to endeavour to restore that
public tranquillity, the enjoyment of which is unfor-
tunately often interrupted in Portugal; this mis-
sion was not terminated until the month of March, 1834 ; he
then spent about six months in England. In the month of
September following his return from Portugal he received
the appointment of Minister Plenipotentiary at Wurtemburg,
which he held till November, 1835, when he succeeded Lord
Minto as British Ambassador at Berlia. and at that Court he
represented the British Government till, on the accession of
Sir Robert Peel to power in September, 1841, he resigned,
and was succeeded in that important office by Lord Burg-
hersh, now Earl of Westmoreland. He had received the civil
Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1838 for his diplo-
matic services, and in 1841 the order of Leopold of Belgium
(let class). As he had never shown, or at least never culti-
vated, the talents which secure Parliamentary distinction, he
did not, on resigning his embassy, seek to obtain a seat in
the House of Commons; so that, since the close of the last
Melbourne Ministry, he was not called upon to participate
in public affairs. For some time past he had been very se-
riously indisposed. It was, we believe, at Genoa, whither he
had gone for the benefit of his health, that the deceased no-
bleman breathed his last.— Times.

THE MILITARY FLOGGING AT
HOUNSLOW.
HOUNSLOW, WEDNESDAY EVENING.—Shortly after the ad-
journment of the inquest on Monday last, and just as the
coroner and deputy-coroner had quitted the George the
Fourth Inn, Hounslow-heath, an occurrence took place which
had wall nigh ended in a most serious riot.
It appears that as Farrier-Major Critton and Farrier Evans,
who had attended the inquest and produced the cat-o'-nine
tails with which the flogging had been inflicted before the
jury, were returning to the barracks, while proceeding up
the lane leading from the George the Fourth Inn to Houns-
low barracks, they were addressed by some agricul-
tural labourers at work in a field on the side of the lane,
who called out to the soldiers, " How's that affair gone off ?"
Farrier- Major Critton immediately replied by using language
of an irritating nature, which was followed by a stone thrown
by the soldiers, upon which one of the civilians, named El-
ridge, took up a brickbat and threw it with great violence
at Farrier-Major. Critton, which struck him on the right
temple, inflicting a : serious wound. Privates Sparkes
and Pegg, who were following the farriers to the barracks,
witnessed the occurrence, and seeing Elridge run off across
the fields pursued him, and came up to him, and on seizing
him a desperate encounter took place between Elridge and
Sparkes, during which the former was most severely beaten.
Fortunately, one of (he officers of the 7th Hussars reached
the spot and exercised his authority over the soldiers, while
Mr. I. Pownall, of Spring-grove, Hounslow, one of the
local magistrates present at the inquest, who having heard
of the disturbance had hurried to the spot, addressed the
crowd, which had by that time assembled, and quietness
was restored. Elridge was then given in charge to the police
fur the assault on Farrier-Major Critton, and was conveyed
to the station-house of the T division_ of the metropolitan
police in Hounslow.
On Tuesday forenoon Elridge was brought up for exami-
nation before Messrs. 1.1. Pownall and B. J. Armstrong, the
sitting magistrates, at New Brentford, when, after a patient
investigation of upwards of an hour, the charge against
Elridge was dismissed, on the ground that Farrier- Major
Critton had given great provocation by using the improper
language he did, and throwing the stone, and that Elridge
had been greatly punished in his encounter with Sparkes
and Pegg.
It will be remembered that the inquest was adjourned ou
Monday last, for the purpose of having the body of the dead
soldier (which was buried on the afternoon of Friday last
with military honours, in the presence of an immense assem-
blage of persons, in the churchyard of Heston Church) ex-
humed, in order that a further medical examination should
be made, with a view to ascertaining the state of the spine.
Yesterday (Tuesday), about six o'clock in the evening, Mr.
IVakley's warrant for the disinterment of the body was re-
ceived by the Rev. H. Trimmer, the vicar, Messrs. Whitney
and Harding, the churchwardens of Heston, and Brent, the
coroner's summoning officer. At eight o'clock the digging
of the grave was commenced, under the superintendence of the
Rev. Mr. Trimmer, and from that hour until nearly eleven
o'clock at night the churchyard was surrounded by the in-
habitants of the village.
This morning the preparations for the exhumation were
continued. At a quarter to eleven o'clock, Mr. H. G. Day,
of Isleworth, the surgeon selected by the coroner's jury to
examine the body, arrived at the churchyard, accompanied
by Mr. Erasmus Wilson, lecturer on anatomy at University
College, who had been directed by Mr. Wakley to assist Mr.
Day. They were received by the Rev. Mr. Trimmer and
Mr. Churchwarden Harding. The coffin was raised and
opened, and the examination commenced, the only persons
permitted in the churchyard being the operators and their
assistants, the police, and the parochial authorities.
At twenty-five minutes to twelve o'clock a London street-
cab drove up to the churchyard entrance, containing Mr.
Hall and Dr. Read, the surgeons of the military medical
staff, by whom the first post mortem examination of the body
bad been made, by direction of the Horse Guards, who,
alighting, entered the churchyard, but were immediately
met and stopped by Sergeant Jecks, and informed that he
had the Coroner's orders not to permit any person but the
two surgeons operating, and the parochial authorities, to be
present at the examination. Mr. Hall and Dr. Read appeared
much surprised, and said it was absolutely necessary that
they should be present, as they were directed to be so by a
special order, which they produced, signed by Sir James
M'Gregor, the military medical director. Sergeant Jacks
told them that he had no power to allow them, in which
statement he was confirmed by Brent, the Coroner's officer,
and the Rev. H. S. Trimmer.
Mr. Day explained the position in which they were placed
by the Coroner's instructions, and read for their information
the following instructions which he had received from Mr.
Wakley :
"The Coroner directs that no 'medical gentleman but Mr.
Day should attend your examination. This is peremptory,
and your authority for excluding all others.
" G. J. MILLS, Deputy-Coroner."
Brent, the Coroner's summoning officer, also read the
()flowing instructions he had received
'rake the enclosed order to the persons directed therein,
viz., Rev. Mr. Trimmer and the churchwardens, and inform
them that Mr. Wilson, surgeon, will be at Heston church-
yard, at eleven o'clock exactly, on Wednesday morning, July
22, to make his inspection of the body, and that the corpse
must be removed from the coffiin, and open for his examina-
tion, by that hour. No person whatever but Mr- Day,
whom Mr. Wilson will bring with him, must be present
when he examines the body, consequently no notice is to be
given to any regimental or other medical officer as to the day
or hour of the inspection. Mr. Wilson has orders to exclude
every person but Mr. Day, unless it be some one to assist
with a bucket, water, sponge, cloth, &c.
" J. MILLS, Deputy Coroner.
" 35, Bedford-square, July 21."
The military surgeons said they must of course bow to
the authority of the Coroner, and requested to have a copy
of the above instructions, in order that they might adduce
them before the Horse Guards' authorities as the reason they
were not present at the examination, which being furnished
them, they at once returned to town in the cab.
The examination of the body was then proceeded with by
Messrs. Wilson and Day, and occupied upwards of two hours.
The body was, as may be supposed, in a greatly advanced
state of decomposition. Immediately on the conclusion of
the examination the body was replaced in the coffin, which
was again screwed down and re-interred, the grave beialg
after wards fled up.
Of course the result of the examination will not be per-
mitted to transpire until it is given in evidence at the ad-
journed inquest on Monday next.

THE BARON OF PRESTON.—We have authority for
stating, that the old Scotch title of Viscount Preston, is
about to be assumed by Sir Robert Graham, Bart., of Esk,
in Cumberland, who is now residing at Cheltenham. The
father of this very ancient baronet succeeded his cousin
Charles as fourth Viscount, in 1739, but not succeding to the
family estates (which are in the hands of Sir J. Graham,
late Home Secretary), at his Lordship's decease in 1774, his
eldest son allowed both the baronetcy and viscountcy to lie
dormant •, he dying in 1795, his next brother became heir,
and in 1809 took up the inferior title of baronet. For cogent
reasons connected with mercantile engagements in the city
of London, Sir Robert has deferred assuming his dignity
until the present period, when, at the earnest solicitation of
his friends, he is induced to accede to it, for the advantage of
his family.— Cakdouian Mercury.