Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford
Thomas Packenham was born in Dublin on 19 October 1864, the eldest son of William Pakenham, the 4th Earl of Longford, and his wife Selina (née Rice-Trevor). Educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford, he succeeded to the title on the death of his father in 1887. On 8 November 1899 he married Lady Mary Julia Child Villiers. They had two sons and four daughters.
In 1887 Longford was gazetted as a 2nd lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion the Life Guards. During the Anglo-Boer War he was instrumental in forming a company of volunteers from the Irish Hunt for the Imperial Yeomanry (the 45th (Dublin) Company). He was formally seconded for service with the Imperial Yeomanry and appointed a captain in command of the 45th Company on 3 February 1900. The company left for South Africa in the middle of March 1900.
Longford was often mentioned in the account of a man of the 45th Company published in The Irish Field in 1901, including the following descriptions of the fight at Lindley:
[29 May] Colonel Spragge then ordered Lord Longford to take some forty men to make a reconnaisance in that direction [a high kopje]. As soon as this lot left the kraal the Boers woke up and opened a very brisk fire on them. Our men advanced in open order and arrived among the sheep kraals, from which they opened fire on the snipers and quickly silenced them.
On 31 May in the early morning Longford led a successful attack on a strategically important kopje. While holding the position, however, he was one of a number wounded, in the neck and arm.
For a little while longer Lord Longford's men continued the hopeless struggle on their end of the position, where there were several casualties ... Finally seeing that headquarters had hoisted the white flag, and that further strife would mean useless slaughter, Lord Longford reluctantly gave the order to cease fire. We had surrendered.
He was freed the following day by a British relieving force, having been left behind by the Boers with others who were too sick or injured to travel.
In January 1902 Longford was again seconded for service with the Imperial Yeomanry, appointed to command of the 29th Battalion, with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel. The Battalion left Ireland for South Africa in May 1902 on board the s.s. Bavarian. They arrived in South Africa just days before the Peace of Vereeniging was signed on 31 May, returning home four months later on the s.s. Dilwara.
During the First World War Lord Longford commanded the 2nd South Midland Mounted Brigade of the 2nd Mounted Division. On 21 August 1915 the Division was in reserve for the final attack on Scimitar Hill on the Gallipoli Peninsula. When the initial attack failed Longford led his brigade in a charge which captured the summit of the hill. He was killed during the fighting, his last words reputedly being: "Don't bother ducking, the men don't like it and it doesn't do any good."
He is commemorated in Green Hill Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey.
The first image can be seen in its full context here.
This page last updated 16 November 2025.