John Long

John Long

John Long (1906 - 1993) was a Bahá’í­ who served first on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’í­s of the British Isles, and later on its successor body, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’í­s of the United Kingdom. For much of this time he also served as Manager of the Bahá’í­ Publishing Trust, which for many years was run from his private house in Oakham, Rutland.

Early Service

John, together with his wife Vera, declared as Bahá’í­s in the 1950s, probably through the agency of Betty Reed. Betty and John both held positions in a body dedicated to furthering the trade in boots and shoes, which trade had its base in the English East Midlands. When Betty became Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, she allegedly set up a filing system in which everything was stored in shoe boxes. John shared in this pragmatic approach to the re-use of unwanted materials, and for many years, moderate sized packages of books from the Bahá’í­ Publishing Trust were posted out in boot boxes.

Later Years

John and Vera pioneered to Oakham, the county town of Rutland, which was the smallest English county, and a goal town. The Bahá’í­ Publishing Trust was run from their house. It was John who established a central warehouse for all the stocks of books belonging to the Trust, and which had hitherto been stored in a variety of places. After two smaller properties, an old maltings building was acquired in the village of Ketton, and converted as the warehouse. Office space was then rented in Oakham itself, so the stock and the administration were several miles apart.

Meanwhile, John became Chair of the National Spiritual Assembly, and served in this role for many years.