Brigadier-General Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford, KP, MVO (19 October 1864 – 21 August 1915), known as Lord Silchester until 1887, was an Irish peer and soldier.

Educated at Winchester College,[2] he served in the 2nd Life Guards, into which he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in February 1887,[3] achieving the rank of colonel, and also held the honorary post of Lord-Lieutenant of County Longford from 1887 to 1915.

Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, Lord Longford was instrumental in forming a company of volunteers from the Irish Hunt for the Imperial Yeomanry, serving in South Africa.

[8] He was appointed in command of the 29th Battalion (composed primarily of officers and men from the Irish Horse), with the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel[9] (antedated to 1 January 1902[10]), and left Ireland for South Africa in May 1902.

[17] The division was initially based in Egypt but was sent dismounted to Suvla on the Gallipoli peninsula as reinforcements during the Battle of Sari Bair.

When the initial attack by the 29th Division failed, the yeomanry were ordered to advance in the open across a dry salt lake.