The Top 5 Richest People in Yorkshire

#5. Sir Ken Morrison & Family  –  £770m

Morrisons in Harrogate- The Yorkshire supermarket chain has kept Ken Morrison in the top 5 rich list despite their recent troubles: Picture credit Steve F Wikipedia creative commons
Morrisons in Harrogate- The Yorkshire supermarket chain has kept Ken Morrison in the top 5 rich list despite their recent troubles: Picture credit Steve F Wikipedia creative commons

Despite the Bradford based supermarket’s recent troubles, Ken Morrison and family still make the top 5 richest people in Yorkshire. With an estimated fortune of £770m, and a big country mansion in the Dales, the king of the Yorkshire supermarkets is still battling it out with the best in the county.

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#4. Tony Murray & Family £1.05bn 

We all need things to keep us warm when it gets a bit nippy and French businessman, (real name Jacques Gaston) has amassed his £1.05bn fortune on selling things like boilers, dehumidifiers, ventilation and air conditioning. He started his Yorkshire money-making journey back in 1982 when he purchased Leeds based firm, NuSwift. This became known as London Security which has headquaters in the city and part of the Andrew Sykes Group, through which much of his fortune is made.

#3 Lord Graham Kirkham & Family £1.15bn 

Rich Lord Kirkham2
A Donny lad made good. Picture credit: sacriousphil wikipedia creative commons.

The Doncaster-born billionaire started making furniture above a snooker hall in Carcroft and called it , Northern Upholstery. In 1983 bought the ailing Direct Furnishing Suppliers in Darley Dale and created a chain of 63 stores across the county, employing 2,000 staff. He re-named it DFS and are still to be found around Yorkshire, along with their distinctive TV adverts. In 2010 he sold the business, creaming off a cool £500m for all his efforts and still has an 18% stake in the profit-making Iceland supermarket chain.

#2 Eddie & Malcolm Healey £1.43bn

A large chunk of the Healey fortune came from the building and eventual sale of Meadowhall. Picture credit Gregory Deryckere' Wikipedia creative commons
A large chunk of the Healey fortune came from the building and eventual sale of Meadowhall. Picture credit Gregory Deryckere’ Wikipedia creative commons

The perennial brothers rich, Malcolm and Eddie Healey have been top dogs in Yorkshire for years after  selling Meadowhall for £1.17bn in 1999. Malcolm Healey built up and sold Hygena kitchens to MFI for £200M in 1987. Between them they are estimated to have £1.43bn between them. I wonder what they buy each other at Christmas?

#1. Robert Miller, Princess Marie-Chantal & Family £1.58bn 

Rich Lady Maria Chantal
Lady Maria Chantal Princess of Greece and her father, Robert Warren Miller topped the 2016 Yorkshire rich list. Picture credit: Frankie Fouganthin wikipedia creative commons.

The new table toppers are American businessman, Robert Miller, who founded Duty Free shopping and his daughter, Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece and family. These shops are found at airports around the world, since 1960 when the first shop was built in Hong Kong. They sought to exploit a rise in Japanese air passengers to the protectorate and spread across the world in the following decades when foreign travel became more affordable. Their connection to Yorkshire? One of the largest country estates in the UK at Gunnerside near Richmond, that’s what.

Written sources

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/sir-ken-morrison-is-biggest-loser-on-yorkshire-s-rich-list-1-7227466

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/money-money-money-yorkshire-s-richest-people-revealed-1-7227922

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Healey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Murray_(businessman)

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/the-morrison-years-sir-ken-finally-checks-out-1-2493658

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty-free_shop