- Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford
Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford, CBE, better known as Elizabeth Longford (
August 30 ,1906 –October 23 ,2002 ) was a Britishauthor .Life
Born Elizabeth Harman and a daughter of eye specialist Nathaniel Bishop Harman, she was educated at the
Francis Holland School , and later took herMaster's degree atLady Margaret Hall, Oxford . "Able, articulate and beautiful", in the words of "The New York Times ", she was "theZuleika Dobson of her day, with undergraduates and even dons tumbling over one another to fall in love with her". [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE7D71230F935A15753C1A960948260 A LIFE OF HER OWN - New York Times ] ] OnNovember 3 ,1931 , she marriedFrancis Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford , who died in August 2001. Herobituary by theBBC said the marriage was "famously harmonious." "The New York Times", in its review of "The Pebbled Shore", called Lady Longford "easily the best writer in what is predominantly a literary family".She and her husband were both devout
Roman Catholic converts, Lady Longford having been raised aUnitarian , and avid social reformers. The Longfords had eight children, among them the writersAntonia Fraser ,Rachel Billington , andThomas Pakenham .She lived to the age of 96, dying in October 2002, 14 months after her husband.
Political career
A lifelong socialist, she made several attempts to win election to the House of Commons as a Labour MP but was unsuccessful, unlike her niece
Harriet Harman , a minister in bothTony Blair and Gordon Brown's governments.Family
Her brother,
John B. Harman , was a doctor andexpert witness for the defence in the 1957 trial of suspectedserial killer John Bodkin Adams . He was also Harriet Harman's father.Lady Longford was a great-niece of the
Tory radicalJoseph Chamberlain and a first cousin once removed of the British prime ministerNeville Chamberlain .External links
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/611906.stm BBC News 2002: Lady Longford dies aged 96]
Bibliography
* "A Pilgrimage of Passion: The Life of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt" (
I.B. Tauris , re-issued 2007)
* "Victoria R.I." (1964) Published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson and awarded theJames Tait Black Memorial Prize
* "Eminent Victorian Women" (1981)
* "Royal Throne: The Future of theMonarchy " (1993), a two-volume biography of the first Duke of Wellington, who numbered among her husband's relatives.
* "The Pebbled Shore" (1986) Biography.
* "Jameson's Raid"
* "Wellington: The Years of the Sword" (Written by the same author, but in the name Elizabeth Pakenham)Footnotes
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