Sir Francis Russell, 2nd Baronet (c. 1616 – 1664) was a Member of Parliament and a soldier for the parliamentary cause during the English Civil War. During the Interregnum he held several positions including membership in Cromwell's House of Lords.

Biography

Francis Russell, the son and heir of Sir William Russell, 1st Baronet, was returned as a member for Cambridgeshire in the Long Parliament. He sided with Parliament in its dispute with Charles I. For his activity in the services of the former, he was appointed by them on 20 August 1642, deputy-lieutenant of the county of Cambridge, at which time an indemnity was ordered to be carried from the Commons to the Lords for him (jointly with Oliver Cromwell, and Valentine Walton) for preventing the removal of silver plate from Cambridge to York, and to which the Lords assented. The Parliament gave Russell a colonel's commission upon the breaking out of the wars; they appointed him governor of the isle of Ely, (if not of Crowland also) governor of the city of Lichfield; which, in 1643, he was obliged to surrender to Prince Rupert, and afterwards he had the government of the isles of Jersey and Guernsey given him. During the protectorate Oliver Cromwell entrusted Russell, now related to him through the marriage of Henry Cromwell to Russell's daughter Elizabeth, with many employments, Russell returned a member of Parliament for Cambridgeshire in 1654 and 1656; and was chosen by Cromwell to be a member of Cromwell's House of Lords. Sir Francis succeeded his father in his baronetcy in 1654, survived the restoration of the monarchy, and was buried at Chippenham, 30 April 1664.

Family

Sir Francis married Catherine, (daughter and sole heir of John Wheatley, esq. and Elizabeth Smallpage), in Chippenham on 19 December 1631. They had seven sons and seven daughters: