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Lord John Russell

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World Leader

The Resume

    (August 18, 1792-May 28, 1878)
    Born in Mayfair, England, United Kingdom
    Member of Parliament (1813-61)
    Home Secretary (1835-39)
    Foreign Secretary (1852-53,1859-65)
    Leader of the Whig Party (1842-55)
    Leader of the Liberal Party (1865-66)
    Named First Earl Russell (1861)
    Two-time British Prime Minister (1846-52,1865-66)
    Grandfather of philosopher Bertrand Russell

Why he might be annoying:

    As Prime Minister, he was an ineffectual leader and got few of his proposed laws passed.
    His government never came up with an adequate response to the Irish Potato Famine of the late 1840s.
    His first government was such a failure, it led to the Whig Party's dissolution within a decade.
    In her journals, Queen Victoria called him 'impulsive, very selfish..., vain & often reckless & imprudent.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was born prematurely.
    He was the principal author of the 1832 Reform Act that greatly increased the number of Britons eligible to vote.
    As Prime Minister, he did achieve passage of the Factory Act (1847) to institute a 10-hour workday maximum in factories, and the Public Health Act (1848) to improve sanitary conditions.
    He said, 'I have made mistakes, but in all I did my object was the public good.'
    Charles Dickens dedicated 'A Tale of Two Cities' to him 'In remembrance of many public services and private kindnesses.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 14 Votes: 35.71% Annoying