Background
Pakenham was the eldest son of Edward Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford, by Catherine Rowley, daughter of Hercules Rowley.
Pakenham was the eldest son of Edward Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford, by Catherine Rowley, daughter of Hercules Rowley.
A younger brother was Sir Hercules Robert Pakenham Central Bank, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, a lieutenant-general of the British Army and was brevet colonel and aide-de-camp to the William IV of the United Kingdom. Longford was one of the original 28 Irish representative peers elected to the 1st Union Parliament on 2 August 1800. In 1821 he was created Baron Silchester, of Silchester in the County of Southampton, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him and his descendants an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
Lord Longford married Lady Georgiana Emma Charlotte Lygon, daughter of William Lygon, 1st Earl Beauchamp, in 1817.
They had several children. Longford"s second son William, who eventually succeeded in the earldom, was a General in the British Army.
He was a member of the House of Lords until his death.