Although he was born in England and passed many of his later years in Spain and Ibiza, Eddy Lindsay-Hogg was a proud Irish citizen who spent many of his happiest and most productive years in this country.
The fourth baronet, born in Kent, was the younger son of a family devoted to the countryside and to traditional animal and horse pursuits. His grandfather, Sir Lindsay-Hogg, was president of Crufts in the early part of the century.
Sir Edward first started to come to Ireland in the early 1930s. Here, his love of horses and racing could have full expression. He was a breeder and a successful gentleman jockey, although over six feet tall, with special success in steeplechases. It was around this time that he became an Irish citizen.
Through his good friend Mr David FitzGerald, he met Mr FitzGerald's sister, the actress Geraldine FitzGerald, and she became his wife in 1936. They moved first to New York and then to Hollywood as her career flourished, but would return to Ireland for long periods, living near the Curragh where Sir Edward trained horses.
Like many couples, they were separated by the second World War. She worked in films in America and looked after their son, Michael, while he was in Ireland, involved with the Irish Red Cross. Wartime travel restrictions meant they were unable to see each other for three years and their marriage did not survive. They were divorced in 1946, though always remaining friends.
Sir Edward was part of a convivial set in Dublin which included David FitzGerald, the artist Sean O'Sullivan, the architect Michael Scott and Lord Hemphil. He was also a devoted friend to Oonagh Guinness since they had first met in the early 1930s.
Sir Edward in his Dublin years began writing plays. The Golden Link was produced by Shelah Richards at the Gate Theatre in 1956 and a radio play about the Bronte sisters, starring Siobhan McKenna, was broadcast a few years later. With his second marriage in 1957 to Kathleen Cooney, the widow of Capt Maurice Cadell, MC, Sir Edward began to live more in Spain, where Lady Lindsay-Hogg had many friends. They moved to Ibiza in the late 1960s and spent most of their life there, enlivened by annual trips to Dublin. He succeeded his nephew to the baronetcy in 1987. Lady Lindsay-Hogg died in Ibiza in 1998.
An elegant man with a diffident wit, Sir Edward embodied the gallant attitudes of an earlier time but with an uncharacteristic liberal and compassionate view of the world. He is survived by his son.
M.L.H.