[2][3] John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford acquired the land, Longacre, in May 1552 at the fall of Protector Somerset.
[4] The Russell family already had a house on the south side of the Strand, with land running down to the Thames near Ivybridge Street.
This property passed to Bridget Hussey, the widow of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, and was sold.
[9] Anne Russell made over household goods and "all manner of implements" at Bedford House the young earl in 1593.
[15] According to Lady Anne Clifford, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick died at Bedford House in 1590.
[24] In 1628, Francis Russell, now 4th Earl of Bedford, ordered a statue of an old woman holding a cat as a garden ornament, and new chimney pieces for the house.