Peace negotiator
What was the position of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford from Apr 1762 to Jun 1763?
John Russell , 4th Duke of Bedford John Russell , 4th Duke of Bedford , ( 30 September 17105 January 1771 ) was an 18th-century British statesman . Bedford was leading Whig political figure around the time of the Seven Years War , and negotiated the Treaty of Paris which ended the conflict in 1763 . He was also an early promoter of cricket and a patron of the arts who commissioned many works from artists , most notably Canaletto . Early life . He was the fourth son of Wriothesley Russell , 2nd Duke of Bedford , by his wife , Elizabeth , daughter and heiress of John Howland of Streatham , Surrey . Known as Lord John Russell , he married in October 1731 Diana Spencer , daughter of Charles Spencer , 3rd Earl of Sunderland ; became Duke of Bedford on his brothers death a year later ; and having lost his first wife in 1735 , married in April 1737 Lady Gertrude Leveson-Gower ( died 1794 ) , daughter of John Leveson-Gower , 1st Earl Gower . Early political career . In the House of Lords he joined the Patriot Whig opposition hostile to the Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole , took a fairly prominent part in public business , and earned the dislike of George II . When Carteret , now Earl Granville , resigned office in November 1744 , Bedford became First Lord of the Admiralty in the administration of Henry Pelham , and was made a privy councillor . He was very successful at the admiralty , but was not equally fortunate after he became Secretary of State for the Southern Department in February 1748 . Pelham accused him of idleness and he was constantly at variance with his colleague The Duke of Newcastle . Newcastle , who had previously admired The Earl of Sandwich , Bedfords successor as First Lord of the Admiralty , for his forthright and hardline views , had increasingly begun to distrust him and his relationship with Bedford . Newcastle engineered the dismissal of both of them , by sacking Sandwich in June 1751 . Bedford resigned in protest , as Newcastle had calculated , allowing him to replace them with men he considered more loyal personally to him . During his time in the post he was accused of spending far too much time at his country estate playing cricket and shooting pheasants . Cricket . Bedford was very keen on cricket . The earliest surviving record of his involvement in the sport comes from 1741 when he hosted Bedfordshire v Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire at Woburn Park . The combined Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire team won . Bedford arranged the match with his friends George Montagu-Dunk , 2nd Earl of Halifax ( Northants ) and John Montagu , 4th Earl of Sandwich ( Hunts ) . A few days later , there was a return match at Cow Meadow , Northampton , and the combined team won again . By 1743 , Bedford had developed Woburn Cricket Club into a leading team that was able to compete against London . The team was prominent in 1743 and 1744 but , after that , there is no further mention of it in the surviving sources . Seven Years War . Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . Instigated by his friends , he was active in opposition to the government , becoming the leader of a faction named after him , the Bedford Whigs . After Newcastles resignation in November 1756 , Bedford became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the new government led by William Pitt and the Duke of Devonshire . He retained this office after Newcastle , in alliance with Pitt , returned to power in June 1757 . In Ireland he favoured a relaxation of the penal laws against Roman Catholics , but did not keep his promises to observe neutrality between the rival parties , and to abstain from securing pensions for his friends . His own courtly manners and generosity , and his wifes good qualities , however , seem to have gained for him some popularity , although Horace Walpole says he disgusted everybody ( the word disgusting then had a much wider range of meanings than it has today , and at its mildest meant simply reserved ) . He oversaw the Irish response to the threatened French invasion in 1759 , and the landing of a small French force in northern Ireland . In March 1761 he resigned this office . Peace negotiator . Having allied himself with the Earl of Bute and the party anxious to bring the Seven Years War to a close , Bedford was noticed as the strongest opponent of Pitt , and became Lord Privy Seal under Bute after Pitt resigned in October 1761 . The cabinet of Bute was divided over the policy to be pursued with regard to the war , but the peace faction prevailed , and in September 1762 Bedford went to France to open formal negations for peace . He was considerably annoyed because some of the peace negotiations were conducted through other channels , but he signed the Peace of Paris in February 1763 . Amongst other gains Britain received Canada from France and Florida from Spain . Resigning his office as Lord Privy Seal soon afterwards , various causes of estrangement arose between Bute and Bedford , and the subsequent relations of the two men were somewhat virulent . Grenville ministry . The duke refused to take office under George Grenville on Butes resignation in April 1763 , and sought to induce Pitt to return to power . A report , however , that Pitt would only take office on condition that Bedford was excluded , incensed him and , smarting under this rebuff , he joined the cabinet of Grenville as Lord President of the Council in September 1763 . His haughty manner , his somewhat insulting language , and his attitude with regard to the regency bill in 1765 offended George III , who sought in vain to supplant him , and after this failure was obliged to make humiliating concessions to the ministry . In July 1765 , however , he was able to dispense with the services of Bedford and his colleagues , and the duke became the leader of a political party , distinguished for rapacity , and known as the Bedford party , or the Bloomsbury gang . During his term of office he had opposed a bill to place high import duties on Italian silks . He was consequently assaulted and his London residence attacked by a mob . He took some part in subsequent political intrigues , and although he did not return to office , his friends , with his consent , joined the ministry of the Duke of Grafton in December 1767 . This proceeding led Junius to write his Letter to the Duke of Bedford , one of especial violence . Bedford was hostile to John Wilkes , and narrowly escaped from a mob favourable to the agitator at Honiton in July 1769 . Children . Child of John Russell and his first wife Lady Diana Spencer : - John Russell , Marquess of Tavistock ( died at birth 6 November 1732 ) Children of John Russell and his second wife Hon . Gertrude Leveson-Gower : - Francis Russell , Marquess of Tavistock ( 27 September 1739 – 22 March 1767 ) - Lady Caroline Russell ( c . January 1743 – 26 November 1811 ) , married George Spencer , 4th Duke of Marlborough Death . His health had been declining for some years , and in 1770 he became partially paralysed . He died at Woburn on 5 January 1771 , and was buried in the Bedford Chapel at St . Michaels Church , Chenies , Buckinghamshire . His sons all predeceased him , and he was succeeded in the title by his grandson , Francis . Francis suffered heavy financial losses , and began the development of Bloomsbury on the old Bedford Estate . The duke held many public offices : lord-lieutenant of Bedfordshire and Devon , Colonel of the East Devon Militia , and chancellor of Dublin University among others , and was a Knight of the Garter . Bedford was a proud and conceited man , but possessed both ability and common-sense . The important part which he took in public life , however , was due rather to his wealth and position than to his personal taste or ambition . He was neither above nor below the standard of political morality of the time , and was influenced by his duchess , who was very ambitious , and by followers who were singularly unscrupulous . He served as the twelfth Chancellor of Trinity College , Dublin from 1765 to 1770 . Bibliography . - Brown , Peter Douglas . William Pitt , Earl of Chatham : The Great Commoner . George Allen & Unwin , 1978 .