Colonel
John
Russell
1620 -
1681
John Russell was born in 1620, the
third son of Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford. Seated at
Shingay, Cambridgeshire, and Covent Garden, London, he does not appear
to have shared his father's or his elder brother's political
views and, as MP for Tavistock in 1641 in the Long Parliament,
opposed the publication of the Grand Remonstrance against
Charles.
Russell appears firstly to have served in
Thomas, Lord Wentworth's Dragoons as Lieutenant-Colonel in the
regiment and commanded at the storming of Marlborough 5/6th
December 1642 and at the storming of Cirencester on the 2nd
February 1643. Russell left the regiment that summer to take
over command of the regiment of bluecoats that Prince Rupert
had adopted after the death of their colonel, Henry Lunsford,
at Bristol.
Russell retained his rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel, but took over as de facto commander of
the regiment. Russell and his regiment remained at Bristol,
recruiting, while most of Rupert's army marched north to the
siege of Gloucester. However, during the siege of Gloucester,
a detachment of 500 musketeers from the regiments recruiting
at Bristol took part in the first battle of
Newbury.
Early in
February 1644, Rupert left Oxford and travelled to Shrewsbury
to take up his new command in the north-west. Russell and the
bluecoats formed part of the Shrewsbury garrison while Rupert
built up an army with which to reconquer the
north-west.
Russell's first campaign in command of the
Bluecoats was in Rupert's York March. On the 16th May, Rupert
left Shrewsbury with the bulk of that garrison's regiments.
Collecting troops on the way, Rupert crossed into Lancashire
with 2000 horse and 6000 foot. He took Stockport by storm on
the 25th May and relieved Lathom House on the same day. On the
28th May, Russell and the bluecoats took part in the storming
of Bolton. After heavy fighting, during which Russell
was wounded and the Bluecoats were repulsed with the loss of
300 men, the town was finally taken and sacked.
When Rupert marched on to
the relief of York and subsequently the battle of Marston
Moor, we do not know if Russell was present on the field with
the regiment due to his wound(s) from the storm of Bolton..
The Bluecoats were part of a forlorn hope on the centre right
of the battlefield, opposite a gap in the drainage ditch that
traversed most of the battlefield. When the right wing of
Royalist Horse was broken, the Bluecoats found themselves
under attack from Crawford's Eastern Association foot to the
front and victorious Parliamentarian horse on the flank and
rear. They beat a hasty retreat and probably preserved
themselves as a cohesive unit.
The
Bluecoats next appear in the Chester garrison in January 1645,
probably having been recruiting in North Wales since the
battle. They took part in the skirmish at Christleton, where
the Bluecoats are referred to as Colonel Russell's Foot in a
Parliamentarian report of the action. Russell may have been
promoted to the rank of colonel as a reward for his services,
but the regiment was still Prince Rupert's. Rupert continued
to hold the commission as colonel of the regiment, and it is
from him that we have our modern SK regiment's
name.
Russell and the Bluecoats remained
in Chester until they were withdrawn by Prince Rupert and
Prince Maurice in March 1645. They were probably involved in
the relief of Beeston Castle and then marched south with the
Princes to the relief of Hereford, besieged by local clubmen
forces.
Marching with the main army during the Naseby
campaign was the first time that the Bluecoats had been under
the King's command since the Edgehill campaign in 1642.
Russell and his regiment were involved in the storming of
Leicester on the 30th May.
From Leicester, the
Bluecoats marched on to the Battle of Naseby (14th June 1645).
During the battle, the Bluecoats were moved up on the left
flank. Here they were assaulted by Cromwell's victorious horse
regiments. Finally, when the bulk of the Royalist foot
surrendered, the Bluecoats and King's Lifeguard of Foot made a
last stand. Joshua Sprigge in his 'England's Recovery'
describes the last moments of the Bluecoats ... the General
called up his Regiment of foot (the Lieut. General being
likewise hastening of them) which immediately fell in with
them, with Butt-end of Muskets (the General charging them at
the same time with horse) and so broke them." The regiment
lost four colours but the rest were spirited away. Russell
escaped capture and retreated with Rupert and the King to
Leicester.
After Naseby,
Russell made his way with Rupert to Bristol. By the end of
August, Fairfax and the New Model Army were outside Bristol.
Rupert had 1,500 effective foot against Fairfax's 12,000
troops. After an assault had breached the defence lines,
Rupert surrendered the city on the 10th September 1645.
Russell went into Oxford under the terms of the surrender.
When the King heard of the surrender, he revoked all of
Rupert's commissions, including the Bluecoats. After this,
Russell slipped away from Oxford to surrender himself at
London.
Russell played no part during the 2nd or
3rd Civil Wars but is credited as being a founder of the original Sealed
Knot.
Post Restoration in 1661, Russell was appointed Colonel of
the King's Ist Foot Guards which was a combination of the
recently deceased Lord Wentworth's Regiment of Royal
Footguards (stationed in Dunkirk) and Russell's Royal Regiment
of Footguards. This was the first 2 battalion regiment in the British army - a pattern
soon adopted elsewhere.
Russell never
received a title for his service and to this day is the only
Colonel of the 1st Foot Guards/Grenadier
Guards not to have any form of title after his
death.
Russell
retired in the late 1670s and died
a couple of years after the Battle of Sedgemoor approx,
1687.
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