1. When his father succeeded as the 5th Earl of Kilmorey in January 1961, Richard Needham became entitled to use the courtesy title Viscount Newry and Mourne, or Lord Newry.
12 Facts About Richard Needham
1. 2.
Richard Needham was a member of the Somerset County Council between 1967 and 1974.
3.
Richard Needham succeeded his father to the earldom in 1977.
4.
Richard Needham's constituency was abolished for the 1983 general election, when he was returned to the House of Commons for the new North Wiltshire constituency.
5.
Richard Needham held the seat until he retired from Parliament at the 1997 general election.
6.
Richard Needham was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Prior, between 1983 and 1984, and to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Patrick Jenkin, between 1984 and 1985.
7.
Richard Needham served under Thatcher and later John Major as an Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland between 1985 and 1992 and under Major as Minister of State for Trade between 1992 and 1995, and was instrumental in transforming Northern Ireland's economic base and the UK's export strategy under Michael Heseltine.
8.
Richard Needham was the longest serving British government Northern Ireland minister.
9.
Richard Needham was appointed the Order of San Carlos by Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia for his work on the Peace Process in Colombia.
10.
Richard Needham was made a Privy Counsellor in 1994 and knighted in 1997.
11.
Richard Needham married Sigrid Thiessen-Gairdner, daughter of Ernst Thiessen, in 1965.
12.
The Richard Needham estate, known as Mourne Park, is near Kilkeel in County Down in Northern Ireland but the title and estate were separated when the fifth Earl inherited the title but opted to live in England.