John Russell, 1st Earl Russell up the children of his eldest son Lord Amberley, orphaned by the deaths of their mother Katharine Russell, Viscountess Amberley in 1874 and their father two years later. These included philosopher Bertrand Russell, who recalled his grandfather in his later life as "a kindly old man in a wheelchair." The 1st Earl Russell is buried at the 'Bedford Chapel' at St. Michael's Church, Chenies. He was succeeded as Liberal leader by former Peelite William Gladstone, and was thus the last true Whig to serve as Prime Minister. Generally taken as the model for Anthony Trollope's Mr Mildmay, aspects of his
Bertrand Russell Park. His grandfather, former Prime Minister Earl Russell, died in 1878, and was remembered by Russell as a kindly old man in a wheelchair. His grandmother, the Countess Russell (née Lady Frances Elliot), was the dominant family figure for the rest of Russell's childhood and youth. The countess was from a Scottish Presbyterian family, and successfully petitioned the Court of Chancery to set aside a provision in Amberley's will requiring the children to be raised as agnostics. Despite her religious conservatism, she held progressive views in other areas (accepting Darwinism and supporting Irish Home Rule), and her influence on Bertrand