The Postcard
A postcard that was published by F. G. Henry & Co. Inc. using a 1910 design by the Colonial Art Publishing Co. of Brooklyn, New York.
The card was posted in Barre, Vermont on Thursday the 14th. September 1911 to:
Miss Bertha Martin,
West Barre,
Vermont.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"Hello Dear,
How is everything with
you?
I would like to see you
tonight, down by the
pond (Ha Ha), you know,
where we sat the last
time.
Say how am I going to
get that address.
G. F. C."
An Assassination in Kiev
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 14th. September 1911, Pyotr Stolypin, the Prime Minister of Russia, was assassinated.
Stolypin was shot in the stomach by Dmitry Bogrov while attending The Tale of Tsar Saltan at the opera house in Kiev, and died of his wounds four days later.
A Convention in Laredo
Also on that day, El Primer Congreso Mexicanista, with 400 Mexican American residents of Texas in attendance, was convened at Laredo under the leadership of Nicasio Idar in order to advocate civil rights for Hispanic citizens.
The convention approved the formation of La Gran Liga de Beneficincia y Proteccion (The Grand League for Benefits and Protection).
Walter Long, 2nd. Viscount Long
The 14th. September 1911 also marked the birth of The Right Honourable Viscount Long.
Walter Francis David Long, 2nd. Viscount Long was a British peer and soldier.
Walter Long - The Early Years
Walter was the eldest son of Brigadier-General Walter Long and Sibell Vanden Bempde-Johnstone, granddaughter of Baron Derwent.
Walter Long was educated at St. David's School, Reigate, and later at Eton on the insistence of his mother, who had remarried in 1921 to Lord Glyn. Traditionally the Longs were educated at Harrow.
After his father's death in 1917, there was tension between his grandfather, Walter Long, 1st. Viscount Long and his mother, who refused to allow her son to spend any of his school holidays with him at Rood Ashton House.
Lord Long was afraid that she had not instilled any affection for Rood Ashton in his grandson, and he consequently believed he might eventually sell the estate, which had been in the family for hundreds of years.
Walter Long's Military Career
Long's father was killed in action in 1917 during the Great War, and so on the demise of his grandfather in 1924, Long aged just 13, inherited the latter's title.
During the Second World War, Lord Long fought as a Major with the Coldstream Guards, and he himself was killed in action at Uden in German-occupied Netherlands, on the 23rd. September 1944. He was 33 years of age when he died. Walter was laid to rest in Uden War Cemetery.
Having no sons, he was succeeded by his uncle, Richard.
Walter Long's Personal Life
On the 14th. November 1933, Long married Frances Laura Charteris (sister of the novelist Hugo Charteris, and granddaughter of Hugo Charteris, 11th. Earl of Wemyss).
In 1933, directly after his marriage, Long and his new wife travelled to New Zealand to take up an appointment as Aide de Camp to Lord Bledisloe. They had one daughter - The Honourable Antoinette Frances Sibell Long (b. 1934), who married Charles Morrison (1932–2005), the second son of the 1st. Baron Margadale.
Long and his wife divorced in 1942. The former Lady Long subsequently married three more times, in 1943 to the 3rd. Earl of Dudley, in 1960 to Michael Temple Canfield, and lastly in 1972 to the 10th. Duke of Marlborough.
Walter Long is featured in a book by Cheryl Nicol about the Long family entitled 'Inheriting the Earth: The Long Family's 500 Year Reign in Wiltshire'.
