Francis Aungier Pakenham, The Earl of Longford, 95

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Friday August 3 7:53 PM ET 

Reformer Lord Longford Dies at 95

By EMMA ROSS, Associated Press Writer 

LONDON (AP) - The Earl of Longford, politician, passionate social reformer
and champion of society's outcasts, died Friday. He was 95.

The earl, Francis Aungier Pakenham, died at London's Chelsea and
Westminster Hospital, his family announced. The cause of death was not
disclosed.

Born and brought up a Protestant aristocrat and Conservative, he ended up
a Socialist, a Roman Catholic, and an Irish Nationalist.

Lord Longford's persistent crusades overshadowed his political career, and
in later years it was largely forgotten that he had served as leader of
the House of Lords from 1964 to 1968, and had held other ministerial
posts.

He opposed the appeasement of Hitler before World War II and worked on
social reforms that led to the creation of Britain's welfare state. He
chaired a committee that in 1963 proposed state compensation for victims
of violent crime.

He was most noted, however, for his prison reform campaign, and
particularly for arguing that one of Britain's most notorious modern
criminals, child killer Myra Hindley, should be paroled.

Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) led tributes to the earl on
Friday.

``He was a great man, a man of passionate integrity and humanity and a
great reformer committed to modernizing the law while also caring deeply
for individuals,'' Blair said. ``I will miss him deeply.''

Lord Longford was born Dec.5, 1905, second son of the 5th Earl of Longford
and great-great grandson of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. He succeeded
to the Irish earldom in 1961, when his elder brother died.

Lord Longford attended Eton and Oxford University, and has an honors
degree in philosophy, politics and economics.

Among his ministerial posts were undersecretary at the War Office,
Minister of Civil Aviation and First Lord of the Admiralty. He was also an
editorial writer for the Daily Mail newspaper and a lecturer at the London
School of Economics and Oxford University.

He wrote more than 20 books, including two autobiographies.

Lord Longford was made a Knight of the Garter, one of the country's
highest honors, in 1972.

He is survived by his wife of 70 years, noted biographer Elizabeth
Longford, four sons and three daughters, including writers Lady Antonia
Fraser and Thomas Pakenham.

A funeral was scheduled for Aug. 10 at London's Westminster Cathedral. 


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