Elizabeth Longford
English historian and biographer of 19th-century figures
At Bernhurst in Hurst Green, East Sussex, on 23 October 2002, Elizabeth Longford passed away at age 96.[1] The Guardian described her as the matriarch of a large dynasty, and she remained loyal to the Labour party throughout her life.[2]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Elizabeth Harman
- Born
- 30 August 1906
- Died
- 23 October 2002 (aged 96)
- Issue
- 8, including Antonia, Thomas, Judith, Rachel, and Michael
- Birthplace
- Marylebone, London, England
- Place of death
- Hurst Green, East Sussex, England
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
She was the eldest of five children of two doctors and had an Edwardian London childhood.[2] She made several unsuccessful attempts to win election to the House of Commons as a Labour MP.[1] In 1935 she contested Cheltenham, and in 1950 she was defeated by Quintin Hogg at Oxford.[1] Her writing career began when Lord Beaverbrook gave her a column in the Sunday Express in the 1950s.[2]
She wrote biographies of Churchill, the house of Windsor, Byron's Greece, and the Queen Mother, among others.[2] Her daughter Catherine was killed in a car crash while Elizabeth was visiting her diplomat son in Warsaw.[2] She is survived by four sons and three daughters, including writers Thomas Pakenham, Antonia Fraser, Rachel Billington and Judith Kazantzis.[2]
What the cited sources add
The same source states she stood for Labour in Cheltenham in 1935 and nursed Birmingham King's Norton until 1944.[2] A faction in the constituency party expressed dismay over her sixth pregnancy in 1944.[2] She stood for Oxford in 1950 as probably the only mother of eight to fight an election.[2] The Guardian reports that publishers demanded biographies and picture-books, which she supplied at an age when others contemplate retirement.[2]
The obituary says she had never changed a nappy, according to her family.[2] Lord Longford is quoted as saying, "I think it would be very difficult to become bored with Elizabeth."[2] According to The Guardian obituary, Joseph Chamberlain was the great-uncle of Elizabeth Longford, and Neville Chamberlain was her first cousin once removed.[2][3]
References
- Wikipedia, "Elizabeth Longford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grove, "Lady Elizabeth Longford", The Guardian, 24 October 2002 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Grove, "Lady Elizabeth Longford", The Guardian, 24 October 2002. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- Wikipedia, "Elizabeth Longford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Howard, "A Life Of Her Own", The New York Times, 26 October 1986 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Elizabeth Longford (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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