Robert Long (British Army officer)

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Robert Long
Mentioned in Despatches

DL (30 January 1937 – 19 September 2014) was a British Army officer who was the last Colonel of the Royal Hampshire Regiment
.

Early life

Long was born on 30 January 1937 in the military hospital at

7th Rajput Regiment.[1] During the War, his father was captured while serving in Corps HQ in Malaya, and spent the war as a prisoner of the Japanese. His mother, Margaret (née Culshaw) worked as a cypher clerk with Force 136, the British clandestine organisation in Burma. In 1944, aged seven, Long was despatched back to the UK on board the SS Strathmore, and spent much of his childhood living with relatives in Fareham. He was educated at Sherborne School[2] before taking a National Service Commission,[3] and subsequently went up to Brasenose College, Oxford where he graduated with a Fourth Class Honours degree.[1] During his time at Brasenose, he organised a cricket tour to Corfu in response to a plea from John Forte, the honorary British vice-consul on the island.[4][5]

Military career

Long was selected for officer training during his

National Service and attended the Officer Cadet School at Eaton Hall in Cheshire. He was commissioned into the Royal Hampshire Regiment, and served in Germany. On graduation from Oxford he took up a management trainee position with an oil company, but became disillusioned and applied to rejoin his regiment with a regular commission.[6] 1st Battalion Royal Hampshires were then serving as the West Indies Garrison Battalion, where Long joined them as a platoon commander. His first action came in suppressing riots in Georgetown, British Guiana,[1] and the regiment was also involved in the relief effort following Hurricane Hattie
.

He applied for a secondment to the Malaysia Rangers, and served with them in Sarawak

peacekeeping mission, to the Kofinou district of Cyprus
, which had been a flashpoint of Greek-Turkish confrontation.

Successfully passing the Command and Staff course at the Staff College led to an appointment as company commander with 1st Battalion the Gloucestershire Regiment, at that time under consideration for merger with the Royal Hampshires. In that role, in late 1972, he was awarded the Military Cross for actions in Northern Ireland, although the detailed citation for the award is still not released to the public.[7] He returned to the Staff College as an administrative officer, before rejoining his own regiment for service in Hong Kong. Promoted Lieutenant-colonel in 1975, a spell in the Ministry of Defence followed, as military assistant to the Quartermaster General, Bill Jackson.

Staff College, Camberley: Long served as a student, an administrator, and on the directing staff

In 1977 he took command of 1st Battalion Royal Hampshires in

Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1982.[10]
A third visit to the Staff College, as one of three Divisional Colonels, followed.

In 1985 he was promoted brigadier and took command of

Colonel-in-Chief
of the Royal Hampshires, continued in that position in the new regiment named in her honour.

Serle's House, Winchester – former HQ and now museum of the Royal Hampshire Regiment – geograph.org.uk – 1158622

Long was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Birthday Honours list of 1988.[12]
His final Army appointment was as the chief of staff in the Directorate of Infantry, from which retired from active service in 1989.

Later life

Robert Long at home on 3 February 2007, shortly after his 70th birthday.

Long's experiences in command of the 42nd Brigade had instilled in Bob Long an understanding and enthusiasm for the Territorial Army, and by extension the reserve forces of other services. It was this understanding and enthusiasm that led to his appointment as secretary (i.e. chief executive) of Eastern Wessex TAVRA (Territorial, Auxiliary and Volunteer Reserve Association), the body tasked with oversight and support of reserve forces of all types across central Southern England. He was active in encouraging participation from local employers in the National Employers' Liaison Committee (NELC), a body set up to educate civilian employers on the benefits of encouraging membership of the reserve forces among their employees.

He was commissioned as a

Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Hampshire in February 1991.[13]

Personal life

Robert Long married, in 1966, Allison, the daughter of James Francis Firth, a Kenya coffee merchant and liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers. They had two daughters and a son. Long was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1998; it was due to complications resulting from Parkinson's that he died in a nursing home near his Over Wallop home, on 19 September 2014. A memorial service was held in Winchester Cathedral on 27 January 2015.

Honours and decorations

Awarded Military Cross (MC) in October 1972 for exemplary gallantry in Northern Ireland[7]
Mentioned in Despatches 21 March 1978 during service in Northern Ireland[8]
Appointed to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1982 New Year honours list[10]
Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1988 Birthday honours list[12]
Appointed to the Colonelcy of the Royal Hampshire Regiment in January 1987[14]
Appointed Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Hampshire in February 1991[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Brigadier Robert Long". The Telegraph. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  2. ^ "OS Register 1925–2000" (PDF). Old Shirburnian Society. Old Shirburnian Society.
  3. ^ "No. 40851". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 August 1956. p. 4582.
  4. ^ "The Brazen Nose 2010–11" (PDF). Brasenose College, University of Oxford. Brasenose College. p. 137. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  5. ^ "John Forte". The Telegraph. 14 September 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  6. ^ "No. 42342". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 May 1961. p. 3260.
  7. ^ a b "No. 45793". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 October 1972. p. 11635.
  8. ^ a b "No. 47494". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 March 1978. p. 3572.
  9. ISBN 1901655008
    .
  10. ^ a b "No. 48837". The London Gazette. 31 December 1981. p. 6.
  11. ^ Hamilton, Keith (1 October 2014). "Brigadier's Farewell". Southern Daily Echo. Newsquest.
  12. ^ a b "No. 51365". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 1988. p. 5.
  13. ^ a b "No. 52444". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 February 1991. p. 2063.
  14. ^ "No. 50813". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 January 1987. p. 1079.
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