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 in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, ...
. 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 Go ...
from 1702 to 1703.
A member of the
Whig party, Long was elected
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Chippenham
Chippenham is a market town in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, ...
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)
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Richard (1668-1730)
Whig (British political party) MPs
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...
1668 births
1730 deaths
High sheriffs of Wiltshire
English MPs 1690–1695
Place of death missing