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 ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

County Louth, Ireland County Louth ( ; ) 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 the north-east, ...

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 nearb ...

, Corby Castle in Cumbria, Gillingham Hall 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 () 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 private park, which f ...

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. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

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

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

on behalf of the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

, before switching to the Conservative Party. He donated £50,000 to the Conservative Party in 2010. He was previously appointed to the Irish Senate 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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the 1986 New Year Honours, 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 ...

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

University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

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 one of the most prestigious awards conferred by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in the United Kingdom. Existing Fellows include award winning scientists and Nobel prize winners. FRSC awa ...

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

Honorary Consul A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

to the

Republic of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Oce ...

. 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 counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, England, while travelling in an AgustaWestland AW139 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 British Overseas Territories, overseas territories and crown dependencies. It is also the Space Accident I ...

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