Former MP with roots in Mayo dies aged 105
Former Labour MP and Defence Minister Sir Patrick Duffy has died at the age of 105.
The oldest living former Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and one of Mayo’s most distinguished emigrant sons, has passed away peacefully at the age of 105.
Sir Patrick Duffy died on January 2 following a short illness.
He was born in Wigan in June 1920 to James and Margaret Duffy from Mayo and was raised in Doncaster. Sir Patrick maintained a deep and lifelong connection to Ireland and spent formative time with relatives in Raith, near Aghamore in east Mayo, when he was 12 years old. He spent 30 hours travelling to the west of Ireland and would often recall the experience with great affection.
During World War II, he served as a Fleet Air Arm pilot and rose to the rank of Commander at the Naval School of Air Radar. He survived traumatic injuries during the war after his aircraft crashed into a Scottish mountain in poor weather, and after undergoing pioneering reconstructive surgery, made a remarkable return to flying.
After the war, he entered politics and served as Labour MP for Colne Valley and later Sheffield Aftercliffe. He worked in ministerial capacities under both Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan.
He was the first President of the NATO assembly and led the first western delegation to the Kremlin in 1989, chairing the historic conference at Westminster where the Warsaw Pact was enacted, symbolically bringing an end to the Cold War.
Sir Patrick’s Irish identity was central throughout his long and distinguished career and life and he maintained strong ties to the west of Ireland and the Irish community in Britain.
His memoir, titled , was released in 2014 and launched by then Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the Museum of Country Life, Turlough.
His funeral will take place later this month.
