Sir Thomas Long of Draycot

(Sheriff of Wiltshire)

Born: ABT 1451

Died: 1509

Father: John LONG of Draycot

Mother: Margaret WAYTE

Married: Margery DARRELL (dau. of Sir George Darrell and Margaret Stourton)

Born in Wiltshire, the son of John Long of Draycot Cerne and his wife Margaret Wayte who, according to the printed Long family pedigree, was his half-sister. There were three sons from this marriage. John Long, the son of Robert Long and Margaret Godfrey, he was elected Member of Parliament for Cricklade in 1442 and in 1449 was an Elector for Wiltshire.

Thomas succeeded to the Draycot estates on the death of his father on 20 Sep 1478, and inherited South Wraxall from his uncle Henry Long of Wraxall (b. ABT 1417 - d. 3 May 1490).

Henry Long was an English politician and lawyer, Member of Parliament for Old Sarum in 1535, and in 1442 for Devizes, for Wiltshire in 1449, 1453-4, and again 1472-5. He served on various commissions between 1450 and 1488 and was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1456, 1475, and 1482-3. In Shakespeare's play Richard III, the Sheriff, introduced in Act Five, Scene One, was Henry Long of Wraxall, who was Sheriff in the time of Richard III, in 1483. Long married three times; to Joan Ernle, Margaret Newburgh and Joan Malwyn. He inherited the manor of South Wraxall from his father, but having no issue, the manor devolved on his nephew Sir Thomas.

Long was among the 'great compaignye of noble men' who went with Edward, Duke of Buckingham, in 1496 to meet Henry VII at Taunton, then in pursuit of Perkin Warbeck. In 1501 he received a knighthood at the marriage of Henry VII's eldest son, Arthur, Prince of Wales, and he was also at the reception of Catalina de Aragon at Shaftesbury in Oct of that year.

Long was elected Member of Parliament for Westbury in 1491. He was appointed High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1500 and again in 1506. He was present at the coronation of Henry VIII in 1509.

He married Margery, daughter of Sir George Darell, of Littlecote House, and had one daughter and seven sons, including Sir Richard Long and Sir Henry Long.

Long died in 1509 and his remains are entombed in a 'rich gothique altar monument' (as described by John Aubrey) in the church of St James at Draycot, Wiltshire. Hanging above his tomb until recently, and authenticated by the British Museum, were his armour Haume (helmet) and gauntlets, dating from ABT 1490. These are now safely kept in the Devizes Museum in Wiltshire.

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