The Gentleman’s Son’ provides a brief account of the Long family from the time of the conquest of Jamaica in 1655 to the mid-eighteenth century, their marriages and children, their acquisition of property in land and enslaved people, their politics. It introduces the main cast of characters in the Long/Beeston family and what became the three distinct branches: the slave-owners in Jamaica, the merchant family in London and the landed gentry in Suffolk. Edward’s two great-grandfathers, Samuel Long and William Beeston, were founding figures of Jamaica as a slave society. Samuel Long’s acquisition of what was to become Longville and his purchase of Lucky Valley set the seal on the Jamaican family’s ownership of property and enslaved people, the source of their wealth for generations to come. What did it mean to be a colonist? Samuel’s great-grandson Edward, born in 1734, grew up in England and as a child lived in Cornwall. His father returned to Jamaica with the rest of the family to retrieve the family fortune by better management of the plantations. Edward was left alone for his education.