Richard Long, 3rd Viscount Long

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Richard Eric Onslow Long, 3rd Viscount Long (22 Aug 189212 January 1967) was a British Conservative Party politician. He married Gwendoline Hague-Cook in 1916, and they had three sons, including Richard Long, and one daughter.

In 1922 he was initiated into the Melksham Lodge of the Order of Freemasons, and became a Justice of the Peace in 1923.

He was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Westbury at a by-election in 1927, following the death of the sitting Conservative MP Walter William Shaw. He was re-elected at the 1931 general election, but stood down at the 1931 election.

Wartime service as commander of 329 Battery of the 32nd Search Light Regiment, Royal Artillery, based at Carlton Hall near Saxmundham, Suffolk. He was asked to resign in 1942.

In 1944, his nephew Major Walter Long was killed in action in World War II. Walter had no male heirs, so Long succeeded to his nephew's titles, becoming the 3rd Viscount Long. Prior to this he had been generally known as "Major Eric Long".

In 1946 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire.

According to his obituary in The Times in January 1967, he once described the Socialists as 'dangerous beasts'. When women peers were introduced into the House of Lords he said: "I will of course speak to them if they thrust their presence in my face, but otherwise I will do my best to overlook them". He said of women that they had "not a clue" about politics.

He died at Bath in Somerset 12 January 1967 and is buried in the family vault at West Ashton, Wiltshire.


Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Walter William Shaw
Member of Parliament for Westbury
1927–1931
Succeeded by
Robert Grimston
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Walter Long
Viscount Long
1944–1967
Succeeded by
Richard Long

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