Richard Godolphin Long

For other people named Richard Long, see Richard Long (disambiguation).

Richard Godolphin Long (2 October 1761 – 1 July 1835)^[1] was an English banker and Tory politician.

Life and career

Baptised at West Lavington, Wiltshire a month after his birth, he was the son of Richard Long (died 1787)^[2] and his wife Meliora, descendant of Sir John Lambe.^[3]

By 1800, Long was a partner in the Melksham Bank, together with his younger brother John Long, John Awdry and Thomas Bruges.^[4] In 1799, he purchased Steeple Ashton Manor House and farm,^[5] which remained in the family until 1967, and commissioned architect Jeffry Wyattville to build Rood Ashton House nearby in 1808.^[6]

He was appointed High Sheriff of Wiltshire for 1794. Long entered the House of Commons in 1806, sitting for Wiltshire until 1818.^[1] He was the founder of the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry.

Family

On 28 March 1786, he married Florentina Wrey, third daughter of Sir Bourchier Wrey, 6th Baronet,^[2] and had by her four daughters and two sons.^[7] After a lingering illness Long died aged 73, at Rood Ashton House, six weeks after his wife, and was interred in the family's crypt at St Mary's Church, Steeple Ashton.^[2] Their children included:

• Walter (1793–1867), the eldest son, was also a member of parliament, representing North Wiltshire^[8]
• Ellen, the eldest daughter, married John Walmesley in 1812;^[9] their children included Richard Walmesley (1816–1893), a lawyer and latterly owner of Lucknam Park, Wiltshire^[10]
• Florentina (Flora), having been previously engaged to Henry Cobbe (uncle of Frances Power Cobbe), who had died the day before the proposed marriage,^[11] formed a strong attachment to the then-elderly poet George Crabbe.^[12] Flora and her aunts were frequent visitors of novelist Jane Austen, who referred to Flora as her 'cousin', though their exact relationship is not known.^[13] Austen never met Crabbe, but nursed a fantasy of becoming his wife.^[14]

Notes

1. Thomas, R. G. "LONG, Richard Godolphin (1761-1835), of Rood Ashton, Wilts". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
2. Sylvanus, Urban (September 1835). The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. part II. London: John Bowyer Nichols and Son. p. 324.
3. The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, p. 106
4. "Wiltshire County Council – Archive Catalogue". Retrieved 29 July 2009.
5. "Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 8 pp198-218 – Steeple Ashton". British History Online. University of London. 1965. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
6. "Lyneham Village, Official Website – History". Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
7. Burke, John (1838). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of The Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. IV. London: Henry Colburn. p. 65.
8. Sylvanus, Urban (1867). The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. part I. London: Bradbury, Evans & Co. p. 399.
9. "Walmesley, John (WLMY792J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
10. "Walmesley, Richard (WLMY835R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
11. Mitchell, Sally (2004). Frances Power Cobbe: Victorian Feminist, Journalist, Reformer. Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. ISBN 0-8139-2271-2.
12. Alexander Meyrick Broadley; Walter Jerrold; George Crabbe (1913). The Romance of an Elderly Poet: A Hitherto Unknown Chapter in the Life of George Crabbe, Revealed by his 10 Years Correspondence with Elizabeth Charter 1815–1825. London: Stanley Paul & Co.
13. "Jane Austen Society of North America – Letter to Her Sister Cassandra, 29 May 1809, by Edward, Lord Braybourne". Retrieved 28 July 2009.
14. Powell, Neill (2004). George Crabbe: An English Life – 1754–1832. Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-8999-0.

Further reading

• Nicol, Cheryl (2016). Inheriting the Earth: The Long Family's 500 Year Reign in Wiltshire. Hobnob Press. ISBN 978-1906978372.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Richard Godolphin Long

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Henry Penruddocke Wyndham Ambrose Goddard	Member of Parliament for Wiltshire 1806–1818 With: Henry Penruddocke Wyndham 1806–1812 Paul Methuen 1812–1818	Succeeded by William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley Paul Methuen