In the cabinet, the Secretary of the South served as the leader of Commons.
The county is named for John Russell, the fourth Duke of Bedford, who was a Secretary of State of Great Britain.
The Honourable Henry Coventry (1619–1686) was an English politician, who was Secretary of State for the Northern Department between 1672 and 1674 and the Southern Department between 1674 and 1680.
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In 1671 he was again sent on an embassy to Sweden, and in 1672 he was appointed Secretary of State for the Northern Department, transferring to the Southern Department in 1674.
Thomas Robinson was a prominent diplomat and politician and served as Ambassador to the Austrian Empire, as Secretary of State for the Southern Department and as Leader of the House of Commons.
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He served as Secretary of State for Scotland, the Northern Department and the Southern Department, before acting as chief advisor to James II and then his son James III during their exile in France.
Intermittently, between 1682 and 1688, he served as Secretary of State for the Southern Department, Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, and Lord President of the Council; in 1687, he signed the King's grant of religious freedom for the Brenttown (Brenton) tract in Prince William County, Virginia, to encourage settlement of French Protestants.