Benjamin Haughton (1855–1932) was an Irish businessman from Cork city, who was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

member of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

from 1922 to 1928. He was from the Cork branch of a Quaker family whose Carlow branch included social reformer

James Haughton James Haughton may refer to: * James Haughton (police officer) Sir James Haughton, CBE, QPM (26 February 1914 – 26 January 2000) was Chief Inspector of Constabulary from January 1976 to July 1977. He joined Birmingham City Police in 1935 ...

and scientist

Samuel Haughton Samuel Haughton (21 December 1821 – 31 October 1897) was an Irish clergyman, medical doctor, and scientific writer. Biography The scientist Samuel Haughton was born in Carlow, the son of another Samuel Haughton (1786-1874) and grandson (by h ...

. Benjamin was head of Haughton's timber and iron merchants in Cork and a supporter of the local

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

. During the Irish War of Independence he was involved with the

Irish White Cross The Irish White Cross was established on 1 February 1921 as a mechanism for distributing funds raised by the American Committee for Relief in Ireland. It was managed by the Quaker businessman, and later Irish Free State senator, James G. Dou ...

and among a group of liberal

Southern unionist In the United States, Southern Unionists were white Southerners living in the Confederate States of America opposed to secession. Many fought for the Union during the Civil War. These people are also referred to as Southern Loyalists, Union Lo ...

s who sought conciliation with

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

in Cork in the lead-up to the 1921 truce. Upon the coming into force of the

Constitution of the Irish Free State The Constitution of the Irish Free State ( ga, Bunreacht Shaorstát Eireann) was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution,W. T. Cosgrave William Thomas Cosgrave (5 June 1880 – 16 November 1965) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, leader of the Opposition in both the Free State and Ir ...

as the President of the Executive Council nominated 30 of the initial 60 senators, including Haughton.. These were subsequently divided by lottery into two cohorts of 15, serving terms of six and twelve years respectively, with Haughton drawing a six-year term. He lost his seat at the 1928 Seanad election. He and his wife Margaret Elizabeth Goodbody had five children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haughton, Benjamin 1855 births 1932 deaths Independent members of Seanad Éireann Members of the 1922 Seanad Members of the 1925 Seanad 19th-century Irish businesspeople 20th-century Irish businesspeople Businesspeople from County Cork 19th-century Quakers 20th-century Quakers Irish Quakers Irish unionists Politicians from County Cork