Richard Long (courtier)

Sir Richard Long (ca. 1494 – 1546) was an English politician and courtier, for many years a member of the Privy Chamber of Henry VIII.

Long was the third son of Sir Thomas Long of Draycot (ca. 1449–1508), Wiltshire landowner, and his wife, Margery (d. in or after 1508), daughter of Sir George Darrell of Littlecote House in Wiltshire.

Long was among the retinue of Sir Gilbert Talbot in 1512, who went as deputy to Calais, and by 1515 he was one of the spears of Calais, a post that he seems to have held for the rest of his life. How he came to be appointed to the court is not clear, but Long was listed by the Treasurer of the Chamber as working in the stables in December 1528, and certainly by 1533 he was an esquire of the stable. He had come to the attention of Cromwell by this time, who, with the exception in times of war, arranged for him to be non-resident in Calais. In 1532 Cromwell received a letter from Long's brother, Henry, to thank him for his favour to Richard. In 1535 Long was appointed to the privy chamber as Gentleman Usher, possibly through the influence of Cromwell. He quickly rose in prominence, gaining the favour of the King.

In 1537 he was knighted, on 15 October in the celebrations following the baptism of Prince Edward, in which he was one of the bearers of the canopy held over the infant in the baptismal procession, and the same day that his kinsman Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset was created earl of Hertford. In 1538 Long was appointed Master of the Buckhounds and Master of the Hawks. By 1539, he was a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, and was present at the reception of Anne of Cleves, also in 1539. He was MP for Southwark the same year. Surviving the fall of his patron Cromwell, Long became a prominent servant of the government throughout the 1540s. He was one of the most senior members of the privy chamber during these years and his intimacy with the King made him a useful agent for secret and covert affairs.

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