Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-03-27
DUKE OF BEDFORD DEAD.
He Was Famous as One of the Richest
Men IN Great Britain-His Family
Name Goes Back to the Thirteenth Cen

He Was Famous as One of the Richest
Men IN Great Britain-His Family
Name Goes Back to the Thirteenth Cen
tury.
LONDON, March 26.-George William
Francis Sackvlle Russell, tenth Duke
of Bedford, died suddenly last evening
of heart failure.
If ever man was born with a golden
spoon in his mouth, that man was the
tenth Duke of Bedford, who has just
died at the age of forty and fraction.
II ever man had good reason for wish
ing to enjoy long life, it was this quiet
nobeman, whose existence created
scarcely ripple In the life Of Great
Britain, and whose fame, despite his
enormous wealth and his pride OF birth,
will rest almost wholly on the fact that
lie was the husband of pure and love-
ly woman who devoted her time, tai
ents and wealth TO the cause OF temper
ance and the amelioration OF her kind.
His wealth beggared that OF the rich
est families in America. His family
name ran back in an unbroSen line TO
the thirteenth century. His country
house, Woburn Abbey, is conceded to be
the most magnificent country seat In
Great Britain.
He was born in London in April, 1852.
His father was Francis Charles Hast
ings Russell, notorious as a graphing,
relentless landlord. and famous as a
peer who spoke the dead languages,
perhaps, more huently than even Glad
stone. His grandfather was Major
General Lord George William Russell,
and the first Lord Russell was the IA
vorite of Henry VII.
On October "a, 1876, he married Lady
Adeline Somers-Cocks, the daughter of
Earl Somers and the younger sister OF
Lady Henry Somerset.
The estate of the late Duke included
11S15 acres in the heart Of London, in
the parishes Of st. Pancras, Bloomsbury
and Covent Garden. including the lat
ter's famous market, on which he levied
heavy tolls. Every cart which ap-
preached nearer than Trafalgar Square
was subjected to q toll of 2s. day, a
source OF revenue which was declared
to put 100000 year into the Dukes
pocket. The rent roll from his country
estates, which included vast possessions
in three of Eugland's loYeliest counties
-Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and
Devon-is estimated at not less than
$50, 900 year. How many millions
he was really worth it would be hard to
say.
During the last few years he had be-
come physically almost a monstrority.
He was well proportioned and active as
young man, but the indulgence OF
most gluttonous appetite soon made
him corpulent, and the very corpulence
that made exercise necessary prevented
exercise at all. OF late years his habits
have been most sedentary. For days
together he would not go outside his
house. His appetite was huge. He
ate, as an eminent man who knew him
better perhaps than any other, described
1t, like q wolf.
He was repnted to be the largest and
heaviest feeder in England, and those
who had seen him eating say ii was q
sight never TO be forgotten. Heart dis
ease OF long standing was the imme-
diate cause Of death, bat he really died
of guttony.
Lord Herbrand Arthur Russell, broth
er Of the late Duke, who now succeeds
TO the title in default of a direct heir,
was an officer in the GrenadIer Guards
and aide-de-camp to Lord Dufferin
while the latter was Viceroy of India.