William Russell, Lord Russell (Cromwell the Great)

William Russell, Lord Russell (29 September 1639 – 21 July 1683), was an English politician. He was a leading member of the Country Party, forerunners of the Whigs.

In 1669, he married the widowed Lady Vaughan (Rachel Wriothesley), being her second husband. The marriage was described as having been happy, and Lord Russell appreciated his wife's intelligence, virtue, affection and piety. In 1678, upon the death of her childless brother-in-law, Francis, the couple became known as Lord and Lady Russell. Together they had four children.

Connected with the Earl of Shaftesbury, who had married his wife's cousin.

Politics
It was not until the formation of the Whig party, that Russell began to take an active part in affairs. With a passionate zeal against Roman Catholicism ( "I despise such a ridiculous and nonsensical religion" he once remarked), and an intense love of political liberty, he opposed persecution of Protestant Dissenters.