Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford - Definition and Overview

Admiral Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford, 1653–1727 by Thomas Gibson, painted c. 1715.

Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford (1653–1727) was the First Lord of the Admiralty under King William III. He was the son of Edward Russell, a younger brother of William Russell, the 1st duke of Bedford.

In 1692 Russell was Commander-in-Chief of the Anglo-Dutch force that fought the French fleet at Barfleur and destroyed much of it at the La Hougue. His victory at the Battle of La Hougue was the decisive naval battle of the War of the Grand Alliance.

He became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1694, remaining in that post until 1699. He served in the Mediterranean from 1694 to 1695 and was created Baron of Shingay, Viscount Barfleur and Earl of Orford in 1697.

On the orders of King William III, he was the first British commander to over-winter at Cadiz (rather than sailing his squadron home in the autumn) and so inaugurated a policy that led to the acquisition of a British Mediterranean base at Gibraltar in 1704.