Category: Extraordinary People

Both members of the British aristocracy, the love story of Frank and Elizabeth Longford, from its romantic beginning to its end, is fascinating and exemplar. Over 69 years of marriage and eight children, their lives remained distinct and yet emotionally complementary. Frank Pakenham (1905-2001) was a politician and social reformer. As Lord Longford, he was notable for his lifelong advocacy of penal reform, but especially because he visited prisoners on a regular basis for nearly seventy years, until his death. He saw politics less as a career and more as part of a moral crusade. Conscience for him came before party loyalty. At his death, Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “He was a great man of passionate integrity and humanity and a great reformer, committed to modernizing the law while also caring deeply for individuals.” Meanwhile, Lady Elizabeth (1906-2002) was “addicted to motherhood,” but also an accomplished historian.