 Known in his younger days as Edward, he was the second son of Robert Hare Long of Ardmayle, and Anna Geraldine McAuliffe.When he was only two years old, his family moved from Ardmayle to Mayfield House, east of Cashel.Another move followed in late 1877 when the family left Tipperary and moved on to Dublin, to the southern suburb of Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire).