Francis Davy Longe

Longe was born on 25 September 1831 at Coddenham Vicarage in Suffolk, the second son of the Rev. R. Longe.^[2][3] Longe was educated at Harrow School where he boarded at The Head Master’s.^[2] Longe later attended Oriel College, Oxford where he graduated with a BA in 1854.^[2] Longe was a student at Inner Temple and was called to the bar on 30 April 1858,^[4] serving on the eastern circuit.^[3] Longe was a descendant of Pocahontas.^[2]

At Harrow and Oxford, Longe excelled at cricket, eventually becoming the captain of Harrow School Cricket XI team, playing at the famous Eton v Harrow match held annually at Lord's Cricket Ground between 1847 and 1850.^[2] At Oxford, Longe played first-class cricket for Oxford University team between 1850 and 1851^[5] and Marylebone Cricket Club.^[6]

Longe became private secretary to Lord Goschen, who gave him the role of a general inspector of the Local Government Board, which Longe undertook for almost 30 years.^[3]

He served on a British commission on child labour from 1862 to 1867. In economics, he is best known for his anti-classical 1866 tract, making him one of the first persons to demolish the Ricardian Wages-Fund doctrine. In this, Longe was followed up independently by W. T. Thornton.^[1]

He retired to Lowestoft, was an active member of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, and served as president of the Ipswich Scientific Society.^[3] He was a Fellow of the Geological Society.

He died on 20 February 1910.^[2]

Longe wrote a number of books including:

• An Inquiry into the Law of 'Strikes', 1860.
• A Refutation of the Wage-Fund Theory of Modern Political Economy as enunciated by Mr. Mill, MP and Mr. Fawcett, M.P., 1866.
• A Critical Examination of Mr. George's Progress & Poverty and Mr. Mill's Theory of Wages, 1883.
• Lowestoft in Olden Times, 1899.
• The Fiction Of The Ice Age Or Glacial Period, 1902.

• List of Oxford University Cricket Club players