John Haire, Baron Haire of Whiteabbey

Who was John Haire, Baron Haire of Whiteabbey?

John Edwin Haire, Baron Haire of Whiteabbey was a British Labour Party politician.

Born in the region of Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland he was the son of John Haire and Mary Tedford. In the 1911 Irish Census the Haire family are documented as residing at 4 Century Street, Portadown. They were of Church of Ireland stock.

Haire graduated from Queen's University, Belfast in 1931 with a Batchelor of Arts and a Diploma in Education. In 1936 he was awarded a Master of Arts. He married Dr. Susanne Elizabeth Kemeny on 30 June 1939.

He fought in the Second World War in the RAF gaining the rank of Squadron Leader.

At the 1945 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Wycombe. He held the seat at the 1950 general election, but at the 1951 general election he was defeated by the Conservative candidate William Astor.

On 13 May 1965 he was made a life peer with the title Baron Haire of Whiteabbey, of Newtownabbey in the County of Antrim. Whiteabbey was one of seven villages that were merged to form Newtownabbey in Northern Ireland when the town was created on 1 April 1958.