A life remembered
Christopher Gordon Long (Chris), who was admitted in 1973, died in Northamptonshire on 26 October 2024, aged 79.
Chris’s early years were spent in Uganda and Kenya where his father, a Colonial Civil Servant, was stationed.
At boarding school in Nairobi, Chris developed a penchant for the high life - aviation - and on return to England he sought to become a pilot. However, the lack of perfect eyesight dashed his hopes, although he maintained a life-long passion for aircraft, aviation and aeronautics.
The legal profession seemed a flying-high alternative and Chris happily served articles with Budd Hart & Son, a family firm in Bedford Row, London WC1. Surprising even himself, Chris took to law like a duck to water and, after qualifying, worked in private practice in greater London for some years specialising in conveyancing and litigation.
The siren call of the public sector proved irresistible and Chris switched his talents to local government, swiftly mastering the intricacies of administrative and municipal law. For 28 years thereafter, as a highly regarded in-house local authority solicitor, he gave robust and prudent legal advice, first to Wellingborough Council and subsequently to Milton Keynes Council.
Chris’s kindly manner, innate courtesy and self-effacing demeanour concealed an astute legal brain.
When Chris retired it was not for long since boredom throbbed away so, for some time, he provided locum services to the under-staffed, hard-pressed legal departments of various East Midlands local authorities.
A wanderlust, Chris’s last visit was to Munich which he enjoyed immensely given his abiding interest in, and expert knowledge, of World War 2.
Chris was proud of his four children who enjoy very successful careers, although none has followed in their father’s legal footsteps.
Sarah Jhirad is a retired solicitor and tribunal judge
No comments yet