Edward Enda Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, OBE, FRCVS, (5 January 1944 – 13 March 2014) was an Irish-British entrepreneur and politician. With an estimated personal wealth of €780 million (£650 million/USD$1,078 million), he was the second-richest person in Northern Ireland, ninth-richest in Ireland and was joint 132nd-richest person in the United Kingdom.

Career

Edward Haughey was born in Kilcurry, north of

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

County Louth, Ireland County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to ...

in 1944 and educated by the Christian Brothers in

. Having emigrated to the United States and begun a career in the pharmaceutical industry, Haughey moved to Northern Ireland starting Norbrook Group as a pioneer in contract manufacture of products for multinationals. Instead of merely being content to process products from other companies Norbrook developed proprietary lines and international manufacturing and distribution. Properties owned by Haughey include Ballyedmond Castle in

Rostrevor Rostrevor () is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the foot of Slieve Martin on the coast of Carlingford Lough, near Warrenpoint. The Kilbroney River flows through the village and Rostrevor Forest is nearby. ...

Corby Castle Corby Castle is an ancestral home of the Howard family situated on the southern edge of the village of Great Corby in northern Cumbria, England. History It was originally built in the 13th century, as a red sandstone tower house by the Salkeld ...

in Cumbria,

Gillingham Hall Gillingham Hall is a Jacobean manor house in the village of Gillingham, Norfolk, England. It is a Grade II* Listed Building. The house has 10-bedrooms and was built in the early 16th century. It was altered and enlarged in the 18th and 19th cent ...

in Norfolk, Belgrave Square #9, London (a 6-storey townhouse purchased in 2006 for about £12m, restored during the following three years) and a Georgian house on Dublin's

Fitzwilliam Square Fitzwilliam Square ( ga, Cearnóg Mhic Liam) is a Georgian garden square in the south of central Dublin, Ireland. It was the last of the five Georgian squares in Dublin to be built, and is the smallest. The middle of the square is composed of a ...

Politics

On 18 June 2004, Haughey was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

as Baron Ballyedmond, ''of Mourne in the County of Down'' and sat in the British

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

on behalf of the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

, before switching to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. He donated £50,000 to the Conservative Party in 2010. He was previously appointed to the

Irish Senate Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

in 1994, and was the third politician in nearly 80 years to have sat in both countries' upper houses, after the Earl of Longford in the 1940s and the Earl of Iveagh in the 1970s. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

1986 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1986 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, and in 2008 was awarded an honorary Fellowship of the

Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) is the regulatory body for veterinary surgeons in the United Kingdom, established in 1844 by royal charter. It is responsible for monitoring the educational, ethical and clinical standards of the v ...

. On 1 July 2008 Haughey was made an Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) by the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

in recognition of his contribution to the development of the international pharmaceutical industry. Tax-deductible donations have been made by Norbrook to the UU. The same year, he was also made an Honorary

Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) is an award conferred by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in the United Kingdom. FRSC award Achieving Fellow status in the chemical profession denotes to the wider community a high level of ...

(HonFRSC), "in recognition of his unparalleled contribution to the chemical sciences". Haughey served as an

Honorary Consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

to the

Republic of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Haughey was the Mid Ulster Branch patron of the National Malaya and Borneo Veterans Association.

Family

In 1972, Haughey married solicitor Mary Gordon Young. They had three children; Caroline, Edward and James.

Death

On 13 March 2014, it was reported that Edward Haughey had been one of four killed in a helicopter crash in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England, while travelling in an AgustaWestland

AW139 The AgustaWestland AW139 is a medium-lift twin-engined helicopter developed and produced by the Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, later wholly owned by Leonardo S.p.A. It is marketed at several different roles, including VI ...

type helicopter. An

Air Accidents Investigation Branch The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigates civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and crown dependencies. It is also the Space Accident Investigation Authority (SAIA) ...

report concluded that the pilots had lost control of the aircraft in dense fog and at night. Colleague and site foreman Declan Small (a native of Mayobridge, County Down), and helicopter pilots Captains Carl Dickerson and Lee Hoyle were also killed. He left a personal fortune in his will of £339 million.The Cumberland News 5.5.2017 page 7 'Wealthy Lord's collection to go under the hammer'

References

* Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958", index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F1HB-3Q3: accessed 24 March 2014), BIRTHS entry for Edward E Haughey; citing Drogheda, Jan-Mar 1944, vol. 2, p. 241, General Registry, Custom House, Dublin; FHL microfilm 101236. ;Notes

External links