Elizabeth, Lady William Russell
Elizabeth Anne, Lady William Russell was the socialite wife of Lord [George William Russell].
Early life
Elizabeth Anne Theophila Rawdon was born on 2 October 1793, child of Frances and Captain the Hon. John Theophilus Rawdon, the brother of Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings.She was baptised at St Mary, Staines, Middlesex, on 4 October 1793. She spent much of her childhood in Europe, particularly Vienna and 'received an education more suited to a boy than a girl' at that time, including a deep knowledge of French, German, Spanish, and Italian, Greek and Latin as well as botany, astronomy and classical literature.
Adult life
Elizabeth Anne Rawdon married Lord George William Russell on 21 June 1817. A beautiful and energetic cosmopolitan who had enjoyed a broad European education, Lord Byron praised her in Beppo as " whose bloom could, after dancing, dare the dawn". Her outspoken Tory sympathies won her few friends among her husband's Liberal circle. Henry Brougham, 1st [Baron Brougham and Vaux] described her as '"that accursed woman'".She and Russell had three sons, all of whom she tutored at home, perhaps lending them a rather distinctive approach to life:
- Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford;
- Lord Arthur John Edward Russell;
- Odo Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill.
She died on 10 August 1874.