Robert Edward Crozier Long

Anglo Irish journalist and author

Robert Edward Crozier Long (29 October 1872 in Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland—18 October 1938, Berlin), was a noted Anglo Irish journalist and author.

He was born at Ardmayle House, near Longfield and Fort Edward, located just north of Cashel. Known in his younger days as Edward, he was the second son of Robert Hare Long of Ardmayle, and Anna Geraldine McAuliffe. When he was only two years old, his family moved from Ardmayle to Mayfield House, east of Cashel. Another move followed in late 1877 when the family left Tipperary and moved on to Dublin, to the southern suburb of Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire). Since his father was often away on business or attending horse racing events, young Edward barely knew him, and was just seven years old when he died in Montreal in February, 1880. On 19 October 1881, a Church of Ireland Merit Certificate was awarded to Edward Long of Mariners Church, Kingstown. He presumably also attended a local elementary school. However, in 1885, aged around 13, Edward emulated his elder brother John and ran away from home. He made his way to the waterfront and took the boat to Liverpool, England where he found a job working on the docks, but before long made his way down to London. About this time, he also made the decision to be known by his first name of Robert rather than Edward.

Settled in London by 1888, Long, through a stroke of luck, was introduced to Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927), journalist and author of Three Men in a Boat (1889) fame, who promptly hired him as an office boy. Jerome was then the co editor of The Idler and sole editor of To Day, two of the most popular British periodicals of the time. Robert soon began writing book reviews and other short items which he then submitted to Jerome. For several years, Robert continued to develop and polish his writing skills, and accordingly rose through the ranks, so that by 1897, he found himself on the editorial staff both publications. He became confident enough, while continuing to work for Jerome, to set out on his own and in 1894 became "engaged in journalism as London correspondent for American newspapers." From 1897 to 1904, he served as secretary to the famous English journalist, William Thomas Stead (1849–1912), who founded the Review of Reviews in 1890, and who went down with the in 1912. "He was one of W. T. Stead's staff on the Review of Reviews in 1898, in which capacity he went to Russia to interview Count Leo Tolstoy (1828 1910)". As a result, Robert Long became well acquainted with the charismatic Russian novelist and philosopher (and author of War and Peace (1866)). "Tolstoy, who had great personal sympathy with Stead, deplored the Review of Reviews " "It lacked the single intellectual and moral trend which Tolstoy wanted in everything." "I have this from my friend, Mr. Robert Crozier Long, who knew Tolstoy well." Robert Long started work for the Westminster Gazette early in his career, circa 1898, when he first went to Russia, and stayed with them until the paper folded. In 1899, he returned to Russia to report on the famine there as a special correspondent for the Daily Chronicle. The Mouravieffs, whose name is derived from the Russian word for "ant", are a family of the Russian nobility, dating from the period when Russia was invaded and occupied by the Tartars. Tatiana and Robert spent the first two years of their marriage residing in Russia. When Robert Long was assigned to Berlin by the Westminster Gazette in 1911, he and his wife left Russia and settled in the German capital. Two years later, on 29 April 1913, their daughter Tatiana (known as Tania), was born there.

During the Balkan War of 1912, fought between Bulgaria and Turkey, Robert Long was there as a War correspondent, and as was advisable, he bought himself a Bulgarian army uniform from a second hand store, hired a servant, rented a horse, and went off to war. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts formulating his next article, that before he realized it, he had wandered into the middle of the battlefield, and ended up being captured by the Turks. When they took off his uniform, they discovered that it had belonged to a Bulgarian general who had died. But the Turks didn’t know this and believed they had captured a real prize, a true Bulgarian general, so they threw Long in jail where he stayed for an entire week before he was able to convince the Turkish authorities to contact the British Consul in Istanbul. Meanwhile, his wife Tatiana was worrying herself to death back home in Berlin.

The stewing Balkan cauldron erupted again during late June, 1914, with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, at Sarajevo, Bosnia. This event triggered the First World War, with Germany and Austria poised to attack their European neighbours. "My father sent my mother and me out of Berlin in July 1914, as war looked imminent and he stayed behind. He had to leave his apartment, after storing all their possessions, in order not to be arrested as an enemy alien after war was declared, and took refuge in the British Embassy which made him a (temporary) second secretary, giving him diplomatic status. He remained in Berlin until a special train left taking all the foreign diplomats out of Berlin about ten days after the declaration of war. Mother, my German nanny and myself stayed with my English godfather and family until father joined us." The Longs did not of course return until the war was over in November 1918.

If he wasn't escaping one world hot spot, he was rushing toward another, this time to Russia at the outbreak of the Revolution of 1917. Sent there as a correspondent for the Associated Press of America, Long arrived in Russia early in 1917. Before long, he had befriended Prince Lvoff, Prime Minister of Russia during the very brief liberal regime in early 1917. A passage from Long's book, Russian Revolution Aspects, advises: "Had the Revolution settled down quietly under Lvoff's practical and extremely democratic rule, Russia would be spared the humiliation and anguish of today. For Lvoff was not only a great and tried democrat; he was also a great patriot. Though himself an aristocrat and a man of wealth, he was ready to go to great lengths to meet the Socialist spirit of the workmen, soldiers and peasants." Long also had something to say about Russia's ill fated royal family: "Three times in the course of my many visits to Russia, I saw Czar Nicholas II, the last, least considerable and unluckiest of the Romanoffs. The first time, he was at the height of his power; the second time, he had just unwillingly surrendered a part of that power; and the third time, he was returning to his palace between armed guards, a captive of the Revolution." By this time Long had earned an international reputation as an outstanding journalist, so it is not surprising that he ultimately came to the attention of the American press baron, William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951), who was so taken with Long's articles on the Russian Revolution, that he made him a very attractive job offer. Long returned to the States with his wife and daughter toward the end of 1917, but soon quit since Hearst wanted to censor his articles.

Although he did not attend university, Robert Long did a good job of educating himself. Aside from his native English, he learned to speak fluent German and Russian and he also spoke very good, though somewhat accented French. In addition he spoke fairly passable Swedish and Danish and read Finnish. He was an active man who thoroughly enjoyed skating, swimming and sailing, and he owned his own boat. Fond of horses, he would often go out riding before breakfast in Berlin's Tiergarten Park. Being somewhat absent minded, Robert would become so absorbed in his thoughts planning his next article that he would become completely oblivious to where he was or to where he was going. Upon one occasion, he found himself on horseback at Potsdamer Platz, Berlin's equivalent of Piccadilly Circus or Times Square! Upon another occasion he had gone out walking. His wife and daughter, who were out shopping, were both highly amused when they ran into Robert who bowed and politely tipped his hat to them. It was quite obvious he had no idea who they were! Robert had a dry, wry, almost sarcastic sense of humour. When, as a girl, Tania would play, for example, some new fox trot record, he would say: "that's the tune the old cow died of!" Robert and Tatiana often attended concerts, the theatre and the opera, and they enjoyed dinner parties with their friends.