Sir Walter Long (c. 1594 – July 1637) was an
English landowner and
Member of Parliament.
Biography
He was born in
Wiltshire, the son of
Sir Walter Long (1565–1610)
Sir Walter Long (1560 or 1565? – October 1610) was an England, English knight and landowner, born in Wiltshire, the son of Sir Robert Long (c.1517-c.1581), Sir Robert Long and his wife Barbara Carne.
Public service
He was elected knight of the ...
and his wife Catherine Thynne of
Longleat. He succeeded to his father's estates, including
Draycot, in 1610 and was knighted in 1625.
He served as a
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
for Wiltshire from 1623 until his death. He replaced Sir James Ley as MP for
Westbury in 1621 when Ley was appointed to a post in the House of Lords. He was re-elected for the same seat in 1625 and 1626.
He married firstly in 1614, Anne Ley, daughter of
James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough and his first wife Mary Pettie. There was one son from this marriage, his heir,
Sir James Long, 2nd Baronet. According to historian
John Aubrey, Long's father-in-law spent so much time at Draycot House with his daughter and her husband, that he had a gateway erected there with his own
Coat of arms on it, but afterwards there was a quarrel, which probably arose from some family disapproval of the Earl's marriage with a third young wife, Jane Boteler. The rift seems to have continued till the end of the Earl's life - in his will he 'begged pardon of the Lady Anne'. Long married secondly, Elizabeth Master c. 1636, and they had one son, Walter (d. 1673).
Sir Walter Long died in July 1637, and his widow died in 1658. According to one of
William Waller's men writing about the capture of Long's son Sir James at Devizes in 1645, Sir Walter Long had died after falling from his horse near
Chichester and breaking his neck. He was supposedly 'in drink', and his son James 'almost spurred the horse to death that broke his father's neck'.
Further reading
*''Hand of Fate: The History of the Longs, Wellesleys and the Draycot Estate in Wiltshire,'' Tim Couzens 2001
*
References
*''The House of Commons 1690-1715,'' David Hayton, Eveline Cruickshanks 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Walter
1590s births
1637 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
People from Wiltshire
English MPs 1621–1622
English MPs 1625
English MPs 1626
Walter
English knights