Awards to Civilians from the Collection of John Tamplin

A scarce honorary Waterloo medal to the Rt. Honble. Sir Charles Long, Paymaster-General, later Baron Farnborough, P.C., G.C.B.

Waterloo 1815 (The Master of the Mint to The Rt. Hon. Cha. Long) fitted with original steel clip and ring suspension, minor scuffing, otherwise nearly extremely fine £500-600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Awards to Civilians from the Collection of John Tamplin.

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Charles Long was born in 1761, the fourth son of Beeston Long of Carshalton Park, Surrey, a member of the well-known firm of West India merchants, Drake & Long.He was admitted at the Inner Temple in April 1779, and admitted a Fellow Commoner at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in May of the same year, but took no degree. He entered Parliament in January 1789 as one of the Members for Rye, and having held that seat until 1796 was returned for Midhurst, and in 1802 for Wendover. In 1806 he came in for Haslemere and held that seat until his elevation to the peerage in 1826. While a Member of the House of Commons he voted steadily with the Tories, and spoke only as far as his office required. From an early time in his career, Long was a respectable official and a successful placeman. In 1791 he was appointed joint Secretary to the Treasury, but resigned with Pitt, his patron, in July 1801, and on Pitt’s return to power in March 1804, became a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury until 1806. His personal friendship with both Pitt and Addington had made him an invaluable intermediary between them in the previous year.

Long was sworn of the Privy Council on 13 February 1802, and of the Privy Council of Ireland on 5 October 1805, being advanced to become Secretary of State for Ireland in February 1806. In 1810 he was appointed joint Paymaster-General, and in 1817 became the sole occupant of that office. He was despatched to France in 1817 as a Commissioner to settle the accounts connected with the Army of Occupation.

On 20 May 1820 Long was created an extra G.C.B. (Civil division), and was invested as such on May 22nd. At the request of Canning he retired in 1826 from his post of Paymaster-General, and was created a peer on 8 July, as Baron Farnborough of Bromley Hill Place in the County of Kent. From the time of his elevation to the peerage he devoted himself principally to artistic pursuits and was a recognised judge of pictures and architecture. He formed a considerable gallery of paintings and sculpture, erected his celebrated mansion, Bromley Hill Place in Kent, and, with the assistance of his wife, laid out its extensive ornamental gardens.

He was the personal friend of both George III and George IV, and assisted them with his taste in the decoration of several of the Royal palaces. He was a person of considerable taste and accomplishment, particularly in painting. He possessed a few good pictures, including a landscape by Ruebens, one by G. Poussin, a fine large Canaletti, two small pictures by Mola, the famous White Horse by Vandyck, the Infant Samuel by Reynolds, and a few more. In the drawing room at Bromley Hill Place was one of the last marble busts executed by Canova, and a beautiful statue of Flora by Westmacott was in the entrance hall.

Long was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the Loyal Lewisham and Lee Volunteers in 1803; was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1792, and of the Society of Antiquaries in 1812; a Trustee of the British Museum in 1812 and remained one until his death; also an original Trustee of the National Gallery from 1824, Deputy President of the British Institution, Chairman of the Committee for the Inspection of National Monuments, and a Director of Greenwich Hospital from 1799 to 1829.

The Rt. Honble. Sir Charles Long, Baron Farnborough, P.C., P.C. (Ireland), G.C.B., LL.D., died at Bromley Hill Place on 17 January 1838, aged 77, and was buried on January 27th at Wormley. Sold with further research including photographs of a portrait and marble bust held by the National Portrait Gallery.