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Elizabeth Longford

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The Right Honourable

The Countess of Longford

CBE
Elizabeth Pakenham at her wedding
Born30 August 1906
Marylebone, London, England
Died23 October 2002 (aged 96)
Hurst Green, East Sussex, England
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m.1931; died 2001)​
Issue8, includingAntonia,Thomas,Judith,Rachel,andMichael

Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford,CBE(néeHarman;30 August 1906 – 23 October 2002), better known asElizabeth Longford,was a British historian. She was a member of theRoyal Society of Literatureand was on the board of trustees of theNational Portrait Galleryin London. She is best known as a historian, especially for her biographies of 19th-century figures includingQueen Victoria(1964),Lord Byron(1976) and theDuke of Wellington(1969).

Early life

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Elizabeth Harman was born on 30 August 1906 at 108Harley StreetinMarylebone,London.[1]The daughter of eye specialist Nathaniel Bishop Harman, she was educated at theFrancis Holland School,Headington Schooland was an undergraduate atLady Margaret Hall, Oxford."Able, articulate and beautiful", in the words ofThe New York Times,she was "theZuleika Dobsonof her day, with undergraduates and even dons tumbling over one another to fall in love with her ".[2]A few years after her graduation, on 3 November 1931, she marriedFrank Pakenham,[3]later 7thEarl of Longford,who died in August 2001. Her obituary by the BBC said the marriage was "famously harmonious".The New York Times,in its review ofThe Pebbled Shore,called Lady Longford "easily the best writer in what is predominantly a literary family".[2]

She and her husband were both devout Roman Catholic converts, Lady Longford having been raised aUnitarian,and avid social reformers. The Longfords had eight children:

  1. Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Pakenham(27 August 1932)
  2. Thomas Francis Dermot Pakenham, 8th Earl of Longford(14 August 1933)
  3. The Honourable Patrick Maurice Pakenham (17 April 1937 – 8 June 2005)
  4. Lady Judith Elizabeth Pakenham(14 August 1940 – 18 September 2018)
  5. Lady Rachel Mary Pakenham(11 May 1942)
  6. The Honourable Michael Aidan Pakenham (3 November 1943)
  7. Lady Catherine Rose Pakenham (28 February 1946 – 11 August 1969)
  8. The Honourable John Toussaint Pakenham (1 November 1947)


DaughtersLady Antonia Fraser,Lady Rachel Billington,Judith Kazantzisare all writers, andThomas Pakenhamsucceeded his father as Earl of Longford. Her brother,John B. Harman,was a physician; his daughter is Labour politicianHarriet Harman.Lady Longford was a great-niece of the politicianJoseph Chamberlainand a first cousin once removed of the British prime ministerNeville Chamberlain.[2]

Political career

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She made several unsuccessful attempts to win election to theHouse of Commonsas aLabourMP. In1935she contestedCheltenham,which was a safelyConservativeseat, and in1950she was defeated byQuintin HoggatOxford.Through the war she had sought selection atBirmingham King's Nortonuntil she felt compelled to cease her candidacy upon her sixth pregnancy in 1944; the seat was a Labour gain in1945by 12,000 votes.[4]

Death

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Longford died on 23 October 2002, aged 96, at Bernhurst inHurst Green, East Sussex.[4]

Publications

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  • Victoria R.I.(1964) Awarded theJames Tait Black Memorial Prize
  • Wellington: The Years of the Sword(1969) andWellington: Pillar Of State(1972), a two-volume biography of thefirst Duke of Wellington,who numbered among her husband's relatives
  • The Royal House of Windsor(1974)
  • Winston Churchill(1974)
  • Byron's Greece.New York:Harper and Row.1975.ISBN978-0-06-012673-5.OCLC1028866749.
  • Byron(1976)
  • A Pilgrimage of Passion: The Life ofWilfrid Scawen Blunt(1979) (I.B. Tauris,re-issued 2007)
  • Eminent Victorian Women.London:Weidenfeld & Nicolson.1981.ISBN978-0-297-77985-8.OCLC1033562084.
  • Jameson's Raid(1982)
  • Elizabeth R: A Biography(1983)
  • The Pebbled Shore: The Memoirs of Elizabeth Longford.London:Weidenfeld & Nicolson.1986.ISBN978-0-297-78863-8.OCLC1036768821.
  • Royal Throne: The Future of the Monarchy.London:Hodder & Stoughton.1993.ISBN978-0-340-58587-0.OCLC1036847832.
  • Queen Victoria.Stroud, Gloucestershire:Sutton Publishing.1999.ISBN978-0-7509-2143-5.OCLC1245768856.

References

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Citations

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  1. ^Johnson, Paul. "Pakenham [née Harman], Elizabeth, countess of Longford".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/77341.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  2. ^abcHoward, Anthony (26 October 1986)."A Life Of Her Own".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 3 August 2021.Retrieved1 May2010.
  3. ^Makower 1997,p. 47–48.
  4. ^abGrove, Valerie (24 October 2002)."Lady Elizabeth Longford".The Guardian.ISSN1756-3224.OCLC60623878.Archivedfrom the original on 10 May 2017.Retrieved3 August2021.

Bibliography

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