Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford

Herbrand Arthur Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford KG KBE DL LLD FRS FSA (19 February 1858 – 27 August 1940) was the son of Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford.

Family
He married Mary du Caurroy Tribe on 31 January 1888 at Barrackpore, India. They had one child, Hastings William Sackville Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford (1888–1953) he also took for his ward, his brothers illegitimate Indian daughter, until she was married. Mary, Duchess of Bedford was later appointed DBE. Dame Mary Russell died in an aviation accident in 1937, three years before her husband.

Career
He gained the rank of officer in the service of the Grenadier Guards and was made a Colonel of the 3rd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment between 1897 and 1908. He fought in the Egyptian campaign in 1882 and in the First World War, where he was mentioned in dispatches.

He held the office of Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex between 1898 and 1926, President of the Zoological Society in 1899, Mayor of Holborn in 1900, Aide-de-Camp to the Viceroy of India between 1885 and 1886, Militia Aide-de-Camp between 1908 and 1920, to King Edward VII and King George V and sometime Deputy Lieutenant of Bedfordshire.

The Duke of Bedford was instrumental in saving the Père David's Deer from extinction after they became extinct in their native China. He acquired the few remaining deer from European zoos and nurtured a herd at Woburn Abbey

Bedford served as president of the Cremation Society of Great Britain from 1921 to his death in 1940. He had the original cremator from Woking Crematorium moved and fitted inside a new chapel at Golders Green Crematorium, where he was himself cremated.

Honours
Herbrand Russell was invested as a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John (K.G.St.J.), as a Fellow of the Society of Arts (F.S.A.) on 14 March 1901, Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG) on 30 May 1902, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1919, was invested as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1908 and made an honorary Freeman of Holborn in 1931.

He was made an Honorary Doctor of Law (LL.D.) by Edinburgh University in 1906.

His grandson John Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford describes him as follows: "A selfish, forbidding man, with a highly developed sense of public duty and ducal responsibility, he lived a cold, aloof existence, isolated from the outside world by a mass of servants, sycophants and an eleven-mile wall." In conjunction with his son Hastings Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford, he developed plans to protect the Bedford fortune from the British tax regime. However, he died too soon for these to come to fruition and the only result was to involve his grandson in enormous difficulties in obtaining access to the family properties.

Herbrand and Hastings Russell feature largely in the 13th Duke's memoir, A Silver-Plated Spoon (World Books, 1959).

According to Jane Goodall in her book Hope for Animals, the Duke was instrumental in saving the milu (or Père David's deer) which was already extinct by 1900 in its native China.