Lady Jane (Maitland) Long

British, died 1833

BiographyLady Jane Maitland, whose date of birth is unknown, was one of nine children born to James Maitland (1718-1789), 7th Earl Lauderdale, and his wife, Mary Turner Lombe (1734-1789). On December 22, 1787 she married the wealthy merchant Samuel Long (d. 1807), eldest son and heir of Susanna Cropp and Beeston Long (1710-1745) of Carshalton, Surrey, partner in the well-known firm of West India merchants, Drake & Long. Like her eldest brother James, who gained notoriety for his flashy dress and outrageous public conduct, Lady Jane was apparently rather controversial in her dress and behavior. One acquaintance judged her to be "as violent as her Brother," and claimed that she resembled "a curious Guillotine figure" in the scanty gown she wore to a wedding tea party in March 1796, for "not only was her head made perfectly easy to cut off without obstruction of any kind, but her body dress seemed calculated for it." Lady Jane and her husband lived at Hill Street, Berkeley Square, London, and had three children. Samuel Long died on October 19, 1807, and a year later (November 5, 1808) his widow married William Houston (1766-1842), a British army colonel who had served extensively in the West Indies, Egypt, the Mediterranean, and Ireland. Lady Jane gave birth to a son in 1809, and to another in 1811. On December 25, 1810 her husband was posted to Portugal where he commanded the 7th division, returning to England the following autumn to recover from illness. On April 8, 1831, Col. Houston was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar. His wife accompanied him to his new post and died shortly after their arrival, on June 1, 1833.

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