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Thomas Francis Dermot Pakenham, 8th Earl of Longford (born 14 August 1933), known simply as Thomas Pakenham, is an Anglo-Irish historian and arborist who has written several prize-winning books on the diverse subjects of Victorian and post-Victorian British history and trees. He is the son of Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, a Labour minister and human rights campaigner, and Elizabeth Longford; his sister, Antonia Fraser, is also a writer and is married to playwright Harold Pinter; his brother Kevin Pakenham works in the City.

Thomas Pakenham does not use his title and did not use his courtesy title before succeeding his father. However, he has not disclaimed his British titles under the Peerage Act 1963, and the Irish peerages cannot be disclaimed as they are not covered by the Act. He is unable to sit in the House of Lords as a hereditary peer as his father had, due to the House of Lords Act 1999 (though his father was created a life peer in addition to his hereditary title in order to be able to retain his seat).

He married Valerie Susan Scott in 1964 and they have four children:

• Lady Anna Maria Pakenham, b. 26 July 1965
• Lady Eliza Pakenham, b. 3 November 1966
• Edward Melchior Pakenham, Lord Silchester, b. 6 January 1970
• Hon. Frederick Augustus Pakenham, b. 27 November 1971

After graduating from Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1955 Thomas Pakenham travelled to Ethiopia, a trip which is described in his first book The Mountains of Rasselas. On returning to Britain, he worked on the editorial staff of the Times Educational Supplement and later for the Sunday Telegraph and The Observer. He presently divides his time between London and County Westmeath, Ireland, where he is the chairman of the Irish Tree Society and honorary custodian of Tullynally Castle.

Books authored or co-authored by Thomas Pakenham in reverse chronological order:

• The Mountains of Rasselas: Ethiopian Adventure ISBN 0-297-82369-8
• The Year of Liberty: The History of the Great Irish Rebellion of 1798 ISBN 0-679-74802-4
• The Boer War (1979) ISBN 0-349-10466-2
• The Scramble for Africa (1991) ISBN 0-349-10449-2 (winner of the WH Smith Literary Award and the Alan Paton Award)
• Meetings with Remarkable Trees (1996) ISBN 0-297-83255-7 (made into a radio and television series of the same name)
• Remarkable Trees of the World (2002) ISBN 0-297-84300-1
• Remarkable Baobab (2004) ISBN 0-297-84373-7

• Tullynally castle
• Queen's University honour Thomas Pakenham