Family and Education

b. ?1705, o. surv. s. of Sir James Long, 5th Bt., M.P. Wilts., by Henrietta, da. of Fulke Greville, 5th Lord Brooke.  educ. Westminster Jan. 1718, aged 12; Balliol, Oxf. 17 Mar. 1722, aged 16.  m. 29 May 1735, Lady Emma Child, da. of Richard, 1st Earl Tylney [I]., 4s. 2da.  suc. fa. 16 Mar. 1729.

Offices Held

Biography

Long was descended from a line of Wiltshire squires who, with few exceptions, had since the fifteenth century represented either the county or some Wiltshire boroughs. He was always reckoned a Tory, and parliamentary managers, applying to him stereotyped ideas, often went wrong: classed as ‘contra’ by Newcastle in November 1762, on 9 Dec. he voted against the peace preliminaries; and marked ‘pro’ by Jenkinson in the autumn of 1763, he voted with Opposition over general warrants, 15 and 18 Feb. 1764. Consequently Newcastle, on 10 May 1764, listed him as a ‘sure friend’. Rockingham marked him as ‘doubtful’ in July 1765; but he voted for the repeal of the Stamp Act, 22 Feb. 1766.1 Several speeches of Long’s are noted by Harris, 1762-6, but none in a major debate.  He died 10 Feb. 1767.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Sir Lewis Namier

Notes

• 1. Harris’s ‘Debates’.