Richard Long (1668 – 19 January 1730) was an English politician. Baptised in

Collingbourne Kingston Collingbourne Kingston is a village and civil parish about south of the market town of Marlborough in Wiltshire, England. The village, which is on the A338 primary route between Andover and Marlborough, is one of several on the River Bourne, ...

, 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 Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

. They had two sons, one of whom was Richard Long (c. 1691–1760), and one daughter. He was

High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the Sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) High Sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held ''ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Gov ...

from 1702 to 1703. A member of the Whig party, Long was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

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 In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

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)

References

Further reading