Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford
Dame Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, DBE FLS (b. September 26 1865 – d. circa March 22 1937) was an English pilot and ornithologist.
Born as Mary du Caurroy Tribe, the daughter of Walter Harry Tribe, Anglican Archdeacon of Lahore in 1865 at Stockbridge, Hampshire. On January 31 1888, she married Lord Herbrand Russell at Barrackpore, India.
When Lord Herbrand inherited his childless brother's titles in 1893, Mary became Duchess of Bedford and in 1928, became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The marriage is reported by her grandson John Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford to have been without affection.
Mary Russell was an collector and watcher of birds, and took an interest in bird migration. Between 1909 and 1914 she spent much time on Fair Isle, often in the company of William Eagle Clarke. Her journals, A bird-watcher’s diary, were privately published in 1938 after her death.
Late in life she became interested in aviation, which she claimed gave her some relief from her constant tinnitus and eventually became totally deaf.
Dame Mary died in 1937, aged 71, after leaving Woburn Abbey in a De Havilland Gipsy Moth plane, which crashed into the North Sea; her body was never recovered.