The Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography was established in 2003 in memory of Elizabeth Longford (1906-2002), the British author, biographer and historian. The £5,000 prize is awarded annually for a historical biography published in the preceding year.
The Elizabeth Longford Prize is sponsored by Flora Fraser and Peter Soros and administered by the Society of Authors.
Winners
2020s
2026
Winner: Clare Jackson for The Mirror of Great Britain: A Life of James VI & I (Allen Lane)
Shortlist:
Richard Bassett for Maria Theresa: Empress: The Making of the Austrian Enlightenment (Yale Press) Matthew Cobb for Crick: A Mind in Motion - from DNA to the Brain (Profile Books) Andrew Graham-Dixon for Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found (Allen Lane) Ann Schmiesing for The Brothers Grimm: A Biography (Yale Press)
2025
Winner: Augustus the Strong: Tim Blanning for A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco (Allen Lane)
Shortlist:
Stephen Alford for All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil (Allen Lane) Helen Castor for The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV (Allen Lane) Dan Jones for Henry V: The Astonishing Rise of England’s Greatest Warrior King (Apollo) Adam Shatz for The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon (Apollo)
2024
Winner: Jackie Wullschläger for Monet: The Restless Vision (Allen Lane)
Shortlist:
Deborah E. Lipstadt for Golda Meir: Israel’s Matriarch (Yale Press) Kal Raustiala The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire (Oxford University Press) M.W. Rowe for J.L. Austin:Philosopher and D-Day Intelligence Officer (Oxford University Press) Jackie Uí Chionna for Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain’s Greatest Female Code Breaker (Headline)
2023
Winner: Ramachandra Guha for Rebels Against the Raj: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom (William Collins)
Shortlist:
Leanda de Lisle for Henrietta Maria: Conspirator, Warrior, Phoenix Queen (Chatto & Windus) Vintage Books Michael Broers for Napoleon: The Decline and Fall of an Empire 1811-1821 (Pegasus Books) Ruth Harris for Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda (Harvard University Press) Daisy Hay for Dinner With Joseph Johnson: Books and Friendship in a Revolutionary Age (Vintage Books)
2022
Winner: Andrew Roberts for George III: The Life and Reign of Britain’s Most Misunderstood Monarch (Allen Lane)
Shortlist:
Timothy Brennan for Places of Mind, A Life of Edward Said (Bloomsbury) Helen Carr for The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster (Oneworld Publications) Jonathan Petropoulos for Göring's Man in Paris: The Story of A Nazi Art Plunderer and His World (Yale University Press) Jane Ridley for George V: Never a Dull Moment (Chatto & Windus)
2021
Winner: Fredrik Logevall for JFK: Vol 1 (Penguin Books)
Shortlist:
Sudhir Hazareesingh for Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture (Allen King) Sarah LeFanu for Something of Themselves: Kipling, Kingsley, Conan Doyle and the Anglo-Boer War (Hurst) Samanth Subramanian for A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J.B.S Haldane (Atlantic)
2020
Winner: D W. Hayton for Conservative Revolutionary: The Lives of Lewis Namier
Shortlist:
Andrew S. Curran for Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely Richard J. Evans for Eric Hobsbawm: A Life in History Oliver Soden for Michael Tippett: The Biography A. N. Wilson for Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy
2010s 2019 Winner: Julian Jackson for A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle Shortlist: Diarmaid MacCulloch for Thomas Cromwell: A Life Andrew Roberts for Churchill: Walking with Destiny Jeffrey C. Stewart for The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke
2018 Giles Tremlett for Isabella of Castile: Europe's First Great Queen 2017 John Bew for Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee 2016 Andrew Gailey for The Lost Imperialist: Lord Dufferin, Memory and Mythmaking in an Age of Celebrity 2015 Ben Macintyre for A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal 2014 Charles Moore for Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography. Volume 1 2013 Anne Somerset for Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion 2012 Frances Wilson for How to Survive the Titanic or The Sinking of J. Bruce IsmayFrances Wilson Wins Elizabeth Longford Prize. (2012). Bookseller, 5526, 13. 2011 Philip Ziegler for Edward Heath (bio of Edward Heath)PRIZES. (2011). Bookseller, 5484, 9. 2010 Tristram Hunt for The Frock-Coated Communist - The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels
2000s 2009 Mark Bostridge for Florence Nightingale. The Woman and Her Legend 2008 Rosemary Hill for God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain"Burnside, Thirlwell and Riley among Society of Authors winners", The Guardian, 19 June 2008. 2007 Jessie Childs for Henry VIII's Last Victim: The Life and Times of Henry Howard, Earl of SurreyThomson, I. (2014). 'God's traitors: Terror and faith in elizabethan england', by jessie childs. FT.Com. Retrieved 2021-10-16. 2006 Charles Williams for Petain: How the Hero of France Became a Convicted Traitor and Changed the Course of History 2005 Ian Kershaw for Making Friends with Hitler: Lord Londonderry, the Nazis, and the Road to War 2004 Katie Whitaker for Mad Madge: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, Royalist, Writer and Romantic 2003 David Gilmour for The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling
References
External links Elizabeth Longford Prize at the Society of Authors Elizabeth Longford Prize at lovethebook Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography Winners at Goodreads