Robert Long (politician)

Arms of Long of South Wraxall: Sable semée of cross-crosslets, a lion rampant argent

Robert Long (c. 1391 – 31 March 1447) of South Wraxall^[1] and Draycot Cerne in Wiltshire, was a Member of Parliament for Old Sarum in Wiltshire (1414), for Calne, Wiltshire, (1417) and six times for the County of Wiltshire (May 1421, December 1421, 1423–24, 1429–30, 1433, and 1442).^[2] He was the founder of the prominent Long family of South Wraxall and Draycott in Wiltshire.

Career

He was born in Wiltshire, the son of Thomas Long.^[3] In 1414 Long was elected Member of Parliament for Old Sarum, and MP for Wiltshire in 1421, 1423–24, 1429–30, 1433, and again in 1442.^[4] On 4 November 1428 he was appointed Escheator of Hampshire and Wiltshire.^[5]

Marriage & progeny

Long married twice:

• Firstly at some time before 1417 to a certain Margaret,^[6] of unrecorded family, by whom he had four sons, three of whom were Members of Parliament, including:
  • John Long, MP^[7]
  • Henry Long, MP^[8]
  • Richard Long,^[9] MP for Old Sarum in 1442,^[10] the year that his father and two brothers were all Members of Parliament for various Wiltshire constituencies.
• Secondly, before 1428, to Margaret Popham (born. 1 May 1400), widow of John Cowdray and of William Wayte of Draycot, Wiltshire, and daughter and eventual heiress of Sir Philip Popham, MP, of Barton Stacey, Hampshire.^[11]

His descendants were Members of Parliament right up until the 20th century, continuing an extended family tradition.

Landholdings

Robert Long owned the manors of South Wraxall and Draycot, both of which descended from him in the male line of the Long family for more than 400 years, with Draycot finally bequeathed away by his descendant William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley, 5th Earl of Mornington, who shocked his family by leaving it in his will to his cousin Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley, in 1863.

Further reading

• Inheriting the Earth: The Long Family's 500 Year Reign in Wiltshire; Cheryl Nicol

Sources

• Kightly, Charles, biography of Long, Robert (d.1447), of South Wraxall, Wilts., published in History of Parliament: House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993

References

1. Kightly
2. Kightly
3. Kightly
4. History of Parliament pp.551-2
5. History of Parliament, House of Commons, vol. III, pp.616-8
6. Kightly
7. Kightly
8. Kightly
9. Kightly
10. History of Parliament p.551
11. Kightly