Philip A. Haigh
Encyclopedia
Philip Andrew Haigh is a British writer of non-fiction military history books, mostly on the subject of the Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...

, although in recent years he has taken to writing military fiction works based on characters and events from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Early life

Haigh was born in Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

 in October 1964. The youngest of three children born to William and Sylvia Haigh (both now deceased), he was later educated at John Smeaton Community College in East Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

.

Later life

In 1980, Haigh commenced a career in retail, working for major UK based supermarket chains such as Morrisons
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...

 and Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...

 Stores. He entered Asda's retail management training program in June 1984 and undertook a number of junior then senior roles within store operations, before finally taking up a central role at Asda's head office in Leeds in 1994.

It was during this time that he commenced his academic writing. In 1998, Haigh left Asda to pursue an I.T.
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

 career working in service management
Service management
Service management is integrated into supply chain management as the joint between the actual sales and the customer. The aim of high performance service management is to optimize the service-intensive supply chains, which are usually more complex than the typical finished-goods supply chain...

 and program management
Program management
Program management or programme management is the process of managing several related projects, often with the intention of improving an organization's performance...

 for ‘blue chip’ I.T. organisations such as IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

, Cap Gemini, Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...

 and Computacenter
Computacenter
Computacenter plc is the parent company of a group of European companies which provide computer services to public and private sector customers. Despite the spelling of the word "center", it is a UK company based in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its competitors include Fujitsu, Getronics, Capgemini and...

, before working as an independent I.T. consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...

 specialising in strategic outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...

 and managing large scale transformational business change programs.

In 1999, Haigh founded the Yorkshire Battlefields Society, but after building close links with the Battlefields Trust, the society merged with the trust in 2002. At this time, Haigh became a trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...

 of the Battlefields Trust and editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

 of the trusts' journal 'Battlefield' - which was formally the Yorkshire Battlefields Society’s quarterly magazine.

Haigh is married with two children (a son Lewis, and a daughter Charlotte). A keen yachtsman, scuba diver and mountain climber, he currently resides in West Yorkshire, where he also serves as a Magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

.

Publications

Haigh retains a wide following of loyal readers. Most of his works are to do with the subject of the Wars of the Roses (or the Hildyard Baronets
Hildyard Baronets
The Hildyard Baronetcy, of Patrington in the County of York, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 25 June 1660 for Robert Hilyard, of Patrington and Winestead. The ancient Hildyard family is thought to have been of Saxon origin...

 to which he is related by marriage), although in recent years he has turned to writing works of fiction. The titles are as follows:-

Non-Fiction

  • The Military Campaigns Of The Wars Of The Roses (Alan Sutton Publishing, 1995)
  • The Battle Of Wakefield 1460 (Alan Sutton Publishing, 1996)
  • Where Both The Hosts Fought - The Battles of Edgecote and Lose-Cote-Field (Battlefield Press, 1997)
  • Campaigns Of The Wars Of The Roses (Bramley Books, 1998)
  • From Wakefield To Towton 1460 - 1461 (Pen And Sword Books, 2002)

Fiction

  • Drake R.N. (Due 2012)
  • Drake And An Act Of Treason
    Treason
    In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...

    (Due 2014)
  • Drake’s Escape (No known date)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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