Walter Long (lieutenant)

Lieutenant

Walter Hillyar Colquhoun Long
Born(1858-10-20)20 October 1858
London, United Kingdom
Died18 February 1892(1892-02-18) (aged 33)
London, United Kingdom
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
RankSecond lieutenant
Unit6th Dragoons
94th Foot
Battles / warsFirst Boer War

Walter Hillyar Colquhoun Long (20 October 1858 – 18 February 1892) was a British Army officer who fought in the First Boer War.[1]

He was first commissioned into the 2nd Somerset Militia as a sub-lieutenant in March 1877,[2] but in October of that year he was ranked as lieutenant, backdated to March.[3] In October 1878 he was transferred to the 6th Dragoons with the rank of second lieutenant,[4] and in March 1880 he was transferred again to the 94th Regiment of Foot.[5] As part of the 94th Regiment, at the age of 24 he played a crucial part in the defence of Lydenburg during a three month siege in 1881.[6][7][8]

He was the son of the landowner and politician Walter Long.[9] After he was court-martialled and criticised for his conduct of the defence of Lydenburg, in February 1892 he took his life at the Grosvenor Hotel, Buckingham Palace Road, Westminster;[10][11] he was described as "formerly of Paris".[12]

  1. ^ "First Anglo-Boer War 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013. After 5 December 1880 less than a hundred soldiers under 24 year-old Lieutenant Walter Long were left in Lydenburg.
  2. ^ "No. 24435". The London Gazette. 20 March 1877. p. 2134.
  3. ^ "No. 24509". The London Gazette. 5 October 1877. p. 5513.
  4. ^ "No. 24630". The London Gazette. 4 October 1878. p. 5423.
  5. ^ "No. 24827". The London Gazette. 26 March 1880. p. 2248.
  6. ^ M. Gough Palmer. "The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013. ...and on receipt of instructions from Pretoria immediately set to work to strengthen the defences.
  7. ^ M. Gough Palmer. "The Besieged Towns of the First Boer War, 1880-1881". Retrieved 15 December 2013. Lieutenant Walter Long, a 24-year old junior officer of the 94th, was placed in command...
  8. ^ Charles Norris-Newman (1884). With the Boers in the Transvaal and the Orange free state in 1880-1. p. 248. Retrieved 17 December 2013. ...application was made to Lieutenant Long, commanding the detachment left in the fort, to join the town in a system of general defence.
  9. ^ "Inquests". The Times. 23 February 1892. p. 11.
  10. ^ "LONG Walter Hillyar Colquhoun of the Grosvenor Hotel, Buckingham Palace Road Middlesex" in Wills and Administrations 1892 (England and Wales) (1893), p. T 145
  11. ^ "Inquests". The Times. 23 February 1892. p. 11.
  12. ^ "No. 26298". The London Gazette. 17 June 1892. p. 3546.