Elizabeth Pakenham

Life
1906-2002; [Elizabeth née Harman; m. Pakenham; Elizabeth Longford; Countess of Longford: Baroness Longford], b. 30 Aug., Harley St.; eldest of five children, her parents both being physicians and her mother a sis. of Joseph Chamberlain; brought up as liberal Jew; ed. Francis Holland School, London and Headington; afterwards at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford; called ‘one of those aesthetic molls’ by John Betjeman; friendly with Gaitskell, Maurice Bowra, Evelyn Waugh and Davied Cecil; bestowed kiss on the brow of sleeping Frank Pakenham (7th earl of Longford - ‘like a Greek god with brown curls’) at Oxford and married him at St. Margaret’s Westminister, 1931 - accidentally arriving at Westminster Abbey instead; converted to Catholicism at his request; stood for Labour at Cheltenham, 1935;

afterwards elected for King’s Norton, Birmingham, being unlisted at her sixth pregnancy, 1944 (for that reason); stood for Oxford, 1950; wrote column on parenthood for Beaverbrook, 1950s; issued Jameson’s Raid: The Prelude to the Boer War (1960), and life of Victoria RI (1964), winner of James Tait Black Award; 2-vol. biography of Wellington (1969-72), also a life of Churchill (1974); The Pilgrim of Passion (1979), a life of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt; also a history of the house of Windsor (1976); a study of Byron’s Greece (1976); Eminent Victorian Women (1981); lives of the Queen (1983) and the Queen Mother (1881); issued an autobiography as The Pebbled Shore (1986); among her children are Thomas Pakenham, Antonia Fraser, Rachel Billington, and Judith Kazantzis; d. 23 Oct. 2002.

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Works

  • Jameson’s Raid (1960), reiss. as Jameson’s Raid: The Prelude to the Boer War (1982, 1984).
  • Wellington, 2 vols. (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1969-72).
  • Louisa, Lady in Waiting: The Personal Diaries and Albums of Louisa, Lady in Waiting to Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra (1979).
  • The Queen Mother (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, c1981; 184p: ill.
  • ; Elizabeth R: A Biography (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1983), xiii, 389pp., ill.
  • ed., The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes (1989).
  • Royal Throne: The Future of the Monarchy (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1993), 189pp.
  • The Pebbled Shore: The Memoirs of Elizabeth Longford (NY: Alfred A. Knopf 1986), xii, 351 pp., 16pp. pls.
  • Pilgrim of Passion (NY: Knopf 1979), 467pp., 49 ills.
  • Winston Churchill (London: Sidgwick & Jackson 1974), 224pp. [See version of COPAC listing, infra.]
Miscellaneous

incls. introduction to Frances Makower & Joan Faber, eds., On the Way Home: Reflections for Old Age Elizabeth Longford (1994), ill. Margaret Tournour.

Abbreviated COPAC Listing of works of Elizabeth Pakenham (Countess of Longford)
  • Catholic approaches: An attempt ... to answer ... the challenge of our times to Christian belief and behaviour) / [by various authors.] Edited by Elizabeth Pakenham. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1955; 227 p; 23 cm.
  • Jameson’s Raid / Elizabeth Pakenham. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1960; 366 p., [8] p. of plates: ill., maps, ports; 23 cm.
  • Byron’s Greece / Elizabeth Longford; photographs by Jorge Lewinski. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975; 183p: ill(some col); 1map, ports; 26cm.
  • Byron / Elizabeth Longford. London: Hutchinson in association with Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976; xii, 231 p., [8] leaves of plates: ill., ports; 23 cm. [in USA as Life of Byron]
  • Eminent Victorian women / Elizabeth Longford. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, c1981; 256p: ill(some col.), facsims, ports; 25cm.
  • Elizabeth R: a biography. / Elizabeth Longford. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, c1983; xiii, 389 p., [32] p. of plates: ill; 24 cm.
  • Hoffnung’s little ones. London: Hoffnung Partnership, 2001; [58] p: chiefly ill.; 20 cm. [Cartoons by Gerard Hufnung originally published to accompany articles by Lady Longford in the Daily express, and then, as a book: Points for parents. - The cartoons alone first published:. London: Dobson, 1961].
  • Images of Chelsea / Elizabeth Longford; gallery of prints, Harriet O’Keeffe; catalogue of prints, Jonathan Ditchburn [Images of London, vol. 1] Richmond-upon-Thames ([1 Saint Helena Terrace, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1NR]): Saint Helena Press, 1980; 270p: ill ; 31 cm.
  • Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland [Leaves from the journal of our life in the Highlands from 1848 to 1861]. Edited by Arthur Helps. Introduced by Elizabeth Longford.. London: Folio Society, 1973.; pp. 140: illus., ports; 23 cm.
  • Louisa, Lady in Waiting: the personal diaries and albums of Louisa, Lady in Waiting to Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra / compiled and edited by Elizabeth Longford. London: Cape, Nov. 1979; [216].
  • The Pakenham party book / by Elizabeth Pakenham, et. al. London: Newnes, 1960; 128 p: ill; 26 cm.
  • Piety in Queen Victoria’s reign. Lecture (Friends of Dr. Williams’s Library, [No.] 27. London: Dr. Williams’s Trust, 1973; 23p; 22 cm.
  • A pilgrimage of passion: the life of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt / [by] Elizabeth Longford. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979; xii, 467p,[16]p of plates: ill, facsim, geneal tables[on lining papers], map, ports; 25 cm.
  • Points for parents; drawings by Gerard Hoffnung. Revised ed. London: Universal-Tandem, 1970; 223p: ill; 19 cm.
  • The Queen Mother / Elizabeth Longford. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, c1981; 184p: ill (some col.), facs, ports. (some col.), 2 genl.tables; 26 cm.
  • Darling Loosy: letters to Princess Louise, 1856-1939 / edited by Elizabeth Longford. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, c1991; 325p: ill, ports; 24 cm.
  • Victoria R. I / [by] Elizabeth Longford. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, [1964]; 635 p: illus., fold. geneal. table, ports; 25 cm. [American edition published under title: Queen Victoria: born to succeed].
  • Queen Victoria / Elizabeth Longford [Sutton pocket biographies] Stroud: Sutton, 1999, rep. 2005; vi, 122 p., [8] p. of plates: ill., ports; 20 cm.
  • The Royal House of Windsor / Elizabeth Longford. London: Sphere, 1976; 256p,[80]p of plates: ill(some col), facsims, 1geneal.table, ports(some col); 20cm.
  • Wellington / Elizabeth Longford. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969-72; 2 vols., coat of arms (on lining papers), facsims., maps, music, plans, ports; 25 cm.
  • Winston Churchill [Authorized by the Winston Churchill Foundation]. London: Sidgewick and Jackson, 1974; 224 p; ill. (some col.), facsims., ports. (some col.), 29 cm.
  • Royal Throne: Future of the Monarchy / Elizabeth Longford Sevenoaks, Kent: Hodder, 1993; 189p: ill, ports (some col.); 23cm.
Source: COPAC (Coordinated Open Access Catalogue at Manchester University Library: http://copac.ac.uk [Search: Elizabeth Pakenham / Accessed 07/09/2006. You can view this list in a separate window - as attached. ]

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Criticism
Frances Makower, Elizabeth Longford (London: Hodder & Stoughton 1997), xi, 212pp., [8]pp of pls.; obituary in Guardian Weekly (31 Oct. 2002, p.23.)

Commentary
The Irish Times (Sat., 26 Oct. 2002) - obituary: b. Harley St., eldest of five and dg. of two doctor-parents; admired and pursued by Hugh Gaitskell, Maurice Bowra, and others at Cambridge Univ.; friend of Evlyn Waugh; first saw Frank Pakenham, ‘like a Greek god’, slumbering ‘with brown curls’ at New College Ball; m. St. Margaret’s, Westminster, 1931; introduced to Workers’ Educ. Assoc.; Pakenham converted to Catholicism; held safe seat of Cheltenham for Labour till 1944 when objections to her sixth pregnancy (‘addiction to motherhood’) scuppered her career; wrote column in Beaverbrook’s Sunday Express in 1950s; issued Jameson Raid (1960); Victoria RA (1964), based on access to Royal Archives and winner of Tait Black Prize; two-vol. life of Wellington (1969); life of Churchill [q.d.]; also, a history of House of Windsor; Byron’s Greece and a volume on eminent Victorian women; ed. letters of Queen Victoria to her dg. Louise (Darling Loosy, 1991); issued Life of Wilfred Scawan Blunt as The Pebbled Shore (1986) [err. for Passionate Pilgrimage]; family of five authors feted collectively at Foyles luncheon, 1969; resided at Bernhurst, the Sussex house bequeathed by a Longford uncle; swam 20 ‘stately’ lengths of the pool each day; issued Royal Throne (1993), declaring her faith in the monarchy and in Prince Charles; survived by Thomas, Antonia Fraser, Rachel Billington and Judith Kazantzis, 26 grandchildren and seven gt-gr.-children.

 

Notes
Guardian Weekly, obituary (31 Oct. 2002) cites Elizabeth Longford ed. letters of Queen Victoria to her daughter Louise, or “Loosy” (1991), not to be confused with Louisa, Lady in Waiting (1979).

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