South West now has nine billionaires says Sunday Times Rich List

Sir James Dyson is the richest person in Southwest England, according to the new edition of The Sunday Times Rich List, published today online at thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist and in the print edition of the newspaper on Sunday, May 22. The 68-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine reveals the wealth of the 250 richest people in Britain in its 34th annual edition. There are 177 billionaires in the UK recorded this year, up 6 from 2021, a year-on-year increase that is also a record. The combined wealth of the UK billionaires is £653.122 billion, up £55.853 billion, or 9.4 per cent, on the total wealth of the billionaires in last year’s Rich List.

With a family fortune of £23 million, up £6.7 billion on 2021, inventor Sir James Dyson, 75, has become the second richest person in the UK, behind London-based brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family, now worth a record £28.472 billion, up £11.472 billion on last year. Dyson Group had a record year in 2021 with profits of £1.5 billion on sales of more than £6 billion - raising its value from £14.5 billion to £21 billion.

Belfast-born Stephen Fitzpatrick, 44, becomes the Southwest's ninth billionaire, worth £1.34 billion. He boosted his personal wealth by £665 million after the New York float of his Bristol-based flying taxi venture Vertical Aerospace. Fitzpatrick’s wealth includes a £603 million stake in Ovo Energy, also based in Bristol.

Husband and wife Chris, 70, and Jersey resident Sarah Dawson, owner of the Plymouth-based discount store chain The Range, share a fortune of £2.25 billion, up £200 million on last year.

Dublin-born Sir David McMurtry, 82, has seen his wealth drop by £650 million in a year to £1.13 billion, after profits slumped at Renishaw, the Gloucestershire engineering business he co-founded.

The 2022 Sunday Times Rich List is the definitive guide to wealth in the United Kingdom. It charts the wealth of the 250 richest people in the UK. The list is based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies. It excludes bank accounts, to which the paper has no access. The Magazine includes several interviews and features, focused on some of the leading players and personalities among the richest 250, as well as a full ranking by order of wealth. The Young Rich List details the 100 individuals with the biggest fortunes aged 30 or under, and the Magazine also includes the top 40 music millionaires.

The Sunday Times Rich List is compiled by Robert Watts. The complete list will be available to the paper’s digital subscribers and will be online at https://www.thetimes.co.uk/sunday-times-rich-list

See also: West Midlands businessman is oldest in Sunday Times Rich List