Longford, Elizabeth

Longford, Elizabeth (lông`fərd), 1906–2002, British author. Born Elizabeth Harman, she married (1931) Frank Pakenham, later (1961) earl of Longford. She was educated at Oxford, lectured for the Workers Education Association (1929–35), and was an unsuccessful Labour candidate for Parliament (1935 and 1950). A long-time writer for the Daily Express and the Sunday Times, she was also an excellent biographer and historian. Her chief works are Jameson's Raid (1960), Victoria (1964), and Wellington (2 vol., 1969–72). She continued to write about royals and politicians well into her 90s. Five of her children became writers: the journalist Catherine Longford, the novelist Rachel Billington, the biographer Antonia Fraser, the poet Judith Kazantzis, and the historian Thomas Pakenham.