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The Countess of Longford | |
|---|---|
 Elizabeth Pakenham at her wedding | |
| Born | Elizabeth Harman 30 August 1906 Marylebone, London, England |
| Died | 23 October 2002 (aged 96) Hurst Green, East Sussex, England |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | 8, includingAntonia,Thomas,Judith,Rachel, andMichael |
Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford,CBE (néeHarman; 30 August 1906 – 23 October 2002), better known asElizabeth Longford, was an English historian. She was a member of theRoyal Society of Literature and was on the board of trustees of theNational Portrait Gallery in London. She is best known as a historian, especially for her biographies of 19th-century figures includingQueen Victoria (1964),Lord Byron (1976) and theDuke of Wellington (1969).
Elizabeth Harman was born on 30 August 1906 at 108Harley Street inMarylebone,London.[1] The daughter of eye specialist Nathaniel Bishop Harman, she was educated atFrancis Holland School andHeadington School, and was an undergraduate atLady Margaret Hall, Oxford. "Able, articulate and beautiful", in the words ofThe 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".[2] A few years after her graduation, on 3 November 1931, she marriedFrank Pakenham,[3] later 7thEarl of Longford, who died in August 2001. Her obituary by the BBC said the marriage was "famously harmonious".The New York Times, in its review ofThe Pebbled Shore, called Lady Longford "easily the best writer in what is predominantly a literary family".[2]
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:
DaughtersLady Antonia Fraser,Lady Rachel Billington,Judith Kazantzis are all writers, andThomas Pakenham succeeded his father as Earl of Longford. Her brother,John B. Harman, was a physician; his daughter is Labour politicianHarriet Harman. Lady Longford was a great-niece of the politicianJoseph Chamberlain and a first cousin once removed of the British prime ministerNeville Chamberlain.[2]
She made several unsuccessful attempts to win election to theHouse of Commons as aLabour MP. In1935 she contestedCheltenham, which was a safelyConservative seat, and in1950 she was defeated byQuintin Hogg atOxford. Through the war she had sought selection atBirmingham King's Norton until she felt compelled to cease her candidacy upon her sixth pregnancy in 1944; the seat was a Labour gain in1945 by 12,000 votes.[4]
Longford died on 23 October 2002, aged 96, at Bernhurst inHurst Green, East Sussex.[4]
