Richard Long (MP 1694)

Richard Long (1668-1730) was an English politician.

Baptised in Collingbourne Kingston, Wiltshire on 7 April 1668 he was the son of Richard Long of Collingbourne Kingston by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Long of Rood Ashton, Wiltshire. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Long of Rowden, Chippenham. They had two sons including Richard Long (c1691-1760) and one daughter.

He was Sheriff of Wiltshire 1702-1703. [The House of Commons, 1690-1715 By David Hayton, Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley 2002]

A member of the Whig party, Long was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Chippenham on 19 November 1694 defeating his opponent Sir Basil Firebrace by 17 votes. After the election there was an allegation of fraud on the part of Long and his supporters, who, a Committee of Inquiry were told, had bribed and threatened certain voters in order to secure their vote. The committee found that Firebrace's supporters had in fact bribed the witnesses to make false claims, and Long was exonerated.

His representation in Parliament was brief. As a supporter of the Immorality Bill he believed the remedy for poverty was the suppression of alehouses. "the most... intolerable grievance we have." He died on 19 January 1730.

----References
*Moral Reform and Country Politics in the Late Seventeenth-Century House of Commons - David Hayton. Past and Present, No. 128 (Aug., 1990)
*The House of Commons, 1715-1754 - Romney Sedgwick (1970)