Walter Long, 2nd Viscount Long

Walter Francis David Long, 2nd Viscount Long (14 September 1911 23 September 1944), was a British peer and soldier.

The Viscount Long
Personal details
Born
Walter Francis David Long

(1911-09-14)14 September 1911
Died23 September 1944(1944-09-23) (aged 33)
Uden, German-occupied Netherlands
Cause of deathKilled in action
NationalityBritish
Spouse
(m. 1933; div. 1942)
ChildrenAntoinette Frances Sibell Long
Parent(s)Walter Long
Sibell Vanden Bempde-Johnstone
RelativesWalter Long, 1st Viscount Long (grandfather)
EducationEton College

Early life

The eldest son of Brigadier-General Walter Long (d. 1917) and Sibell Vanden Bempde-Johnstone, granddaughter of Baron Derwent.

Long was educated at St David's School, Reigate,[1] and later at Eton on the insistence of his mother, who had remarried in 1921 to Lord Glyn. Traditionally the Longs were educated at Harrow. After his father's death in 1917, there was tension between his grandfather, Walter Long, 1st Viscount Long and his mother, who refused to allow her son to spend any of his school holidays with him at Rood Ashton House. Lord Long was afraid that she had not instilled any affection for Rood Ashton in his grandson, and he consequently believed he might eventually sell the estate,[2] which had been in the family for hundreds of years.

Military career

Long's father had been killed in action in 1917, during World War I and so on the demise of his grandfather in 1924, Long aged just 13, inherited the latter's title. During the Second World War, Lord Long fought as a Major with the Coldstream Guards and he himself was killed in action at Uden, Netherlands in 1944.[3] Having no sons, he was succeeded by his uncle, Richard. Long is buried at the Uden War Cemetery.

Personal life

On 14 November 1933, Long married (Frances) Laura Charteris (sister of novelist Hugo Charteris and granddaughter of Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss). In 1933, directly after his marriage, Long and his new wife travelled to New Zealand to take up an appointment as Aide de Camp to Lord Bledisloe. They had one daughter:

Long and his wife divorced in 1942. The former Lady Long subsequently married three more times, in 1943 to the 3rd Earl of Dudley, in 1960 to Michael Temple Canfield, and lastly in 1972 to the 10th Duke of Marlborough.[4]

Further reading

  • Nicol, Cheryl (2016). Inheriting the Earth: The Long Family's 500 Year Reign in Wiltshire. Hobnob Press. ISBN 1906978379.

References

  1. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain by George Edward Cokayne 1940
  2. Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office, Papers of Viscount Long, Ref 947
  3. Obituary, The Times 3 October 1944; Issue 49968
  4. Laughter from a Cloud. The Autobiography of Laura, Duchess of Marlborough – 1980
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