Beeston Long (4 February 1757 – 1820), of Combe House,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, was an English businessman.

Life

He was the son of Beeston Long, a West India Merchant and deputy Governor of the

Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation The Royal Exchange Assurance, founded in 1720, was a British insurance company. It took its name from the location of its offices at the Royal Exchange, London. Origins The Royal Exchange Assurance emerged from a joint stock insurance enterpr ...

, and brother of

Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough (2 January 1760 – 17 January 1838) was an English politician and connoisseur of the arts. Early life Born in London, he was the fourth surviving son of West Indies merchant Beeston Long and his wife Sara ...

and Samuel Long. Long was a senior partner of the firm of West India merchants (largely trading with

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

), Long, Drake & Co, based in Leadenhall Street. He succeeded his father-in-law as Chairman of the West India Merchants. He was a vice-president of the

London Institution The London Institution was an educational institution founded in London in 1806 (not to be confused with the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom founded the previous year, with which it shared some founders). It ...

and leader of a group of merchants and speculators who, in a private venture, undertook the construction of the docks at

Wapping Wapping () is a district in East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Wapping's position, on the north bank of the River Thames, has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, ...

. The London Docks Company had a 21-year monopoly to unload all vessels entering the port with tobacco, rice, wine and brandy (except from the East and West Indies). Long and the other directors sat in the London Dock House, in New Bank Buildings, from where they oversaw their involvement in the

transatlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

. He was Governor of the Bank of England, a position he held from 1806 to 1808, having served previously as its Deputy Governor. In June 2020 the Bank of England issued a public apology for the involvement of Long, amongst other employees, in the slave trade following the investigation by the

Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, formerly the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership, is a research centre of University College, London (UCL) which focuses on revealing the impact of Britis ...

at UCL. Long died in 1820, survived by his wife and two children.

Family

Long married in 1786 Frances Louisa, eldest daughter of

Sir Richard Neave, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Neave, 1st Baronet (22 November 1731 – 28 January 1814) was a British merchant and a Governor of the Bank of England. Life Neave was the son of James Neave and Susanna Trueman. He developed considerable interests in the West Indies ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Beeston 1757 births 1820 deaths English bankers Governors of the Bank of England West Indies merchants Beeston Deputy Governors of the Bank of England

Life

Family

Further reading

Notes