Lord William Russell, third son of the 5th Earl of Bedford: educated at Cambridge; entered Parliament in 1660; married Rachel Wriothesley, daughter of the Earl of Southampton; acted prominently with the 'Country' party in ipposition to the Court; he denounced Buckingham (1674), Danby (1675) and took part in the Opposition's clandestine dealings with King Louis XIV; withdrew from the Council in 1680; supported each of the proposals against James, Duke of York ending with the direct attempt to prevent his succession to the throne by the Exclusion Bill in 1681; was arrested with Essex and Sydney for participation in the Rye House Plot, charged with high treason and found guilty by a packed jury; was beheaded at Lincoln's Inn Fields on 21st July 1683 where a monumental stone recalls his glory.