David John Ernle Longridge Esq (b.1939)
David Longridge was born on 15 June 1939 in Aldershot, England. His mother, Joan Longridge née Whyte, was born in Cape Town, South Africa, but brought up in Bedford, England. His father, Col. Theodore Longridge, was a career officer in the British Army, having fought in both world wars. Born only a few months before the second world war broke out, he spent the war period with his mother and sister in Cheltenham.
Growing up, David lived with his parents in occupied Germany from 1947-1948 returning to England to attend school at Winterfold House. His mother Joan having converted to Catholicism, both David and his sister Rosemary were brought up as Catholics. David attended Downside, the Bendictine boarding school. Money, however, after the war was tight in the family as it was for many other families. In order to attend Imperial College, he would have had to win First Class Honours in Mathematics each year, and he knew he couldn’t achieve that. Therefore he switched to become a chartered accountant, and took articles with a London based firm of chartered accountants.
Qualifying in due course as ACA, David went straight to Paris to join the American firm of CPAs, Arthur Young & Co for whom he undertook client work for clients in Algeria and Morocco. In 1965, he moved back to London to work for Avis Rent A Car. He married Anna Watkinson on 12 September 1970, leading him into to a loving marriage. David also has a love of cars. He bought a 1964 Superfast 500 Ferrari from a princess in Italy, driving it all the way home across Europe. He later owned a silver Porsche 911 Turbo. Both of his children, Edward and Charles, have memories of David driving them in those two cars.
Their first son, Charles, was born on 24 April 1972. Their second son, Edward, was born on 13 February 1974. The family of 4 spent their time living partly in London in Chelsea Park Gardens, with a weekend cottage called Peter’s Orchard in Wiltshire. They eventually moved into a converted farm property in the country called Fosse Farm, and traded their house in Chelsea for a flat in Roland Gardens, South Kensington. Both Charles and Edward were educated at Eaton House in Belgravia, London followed by Moor Park, a boarding school in Shropshire. Charles later attended Downside while Edward attended Eton College. As a family, they spent much time with their several springer spaniels, enjoying most country sports. David hunted his first horse Roly for many years with the VWH and Beaufort hunts, and his last horse Ruskin, known as Supercob.
While working for Avis, David was in overall charge of Avis International. At the time, Avis was the second-largest car rental company globally. He would often fly the Concorde to New York for business. After 16 years with the company, he approached Margaret Thatcher with a view to becoming an MP in the Conservative Party. Taking Thatcher’s advice, David did not pursue that idea, but has been an active supporter of the Conservative Party, becoming Chairman and later President, of the North Wiltshire and South Cotswold Conservative Associations. He has met several prime ministers or political figures, including David Cameron, Margaret Thatcher, Theresea May, and Lord Rees-Mogg, having also been inside No. 10 Downing Street. After working at Avis, David later worked in investment banking, where he worked for Jacob Rothschild for a number of years.
After retiring from the second part of his career in investment banking, David decided to release his creativity by writing historical fiction. Drawing on a particular interest in French political and colonial history, he has written several well received novels with that theme. In retirement, he and Anna enjoy country life to the full, interposed with visits to New York as well as London, to be with their 5 grandchildren. His oldest son, Charles Theodore, married Angela deMarco in Malta in 2001. Edward Alexander married Frances Staige Shanks, an American debutante of the prominent Brown and Shanks families, in Texas in 2003.
