George Withy (15 May 1924 – 17 November 1998) was a journalist, member of the

Press Council (UK) The Press Council was a British voluntary press organisation founded under threat of statutory regulation as the General Council in 1953, with a non-binding regulatory framework. Through most of its history the council was funded by newspaper propri ...

, President of the CIOJ (1975–1976) and the great nephew of

Edward Withy Edward Withy (c. 1844 – 26 March 1927) was born in Bristol, England and in 1869 co-founded a shipbuilding partnership at Hartlepool that eventually became part of Furness Withy. He sold the firm in 1884 and emigrated from England to New Zealand ...

Early life

Born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, George Withy attended Park High Grammar School for Boys School (Birkenhead), leaving at the age of 16 with six o-levels. He then began his career in journalism, when he joined the old Birkenhead News as a junior reporter; and at the young age of 18, spent a fortnight working as a holiday relief editor of the Bebington News. From 1942 to 1947, he served with the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a wireless operator and signals expert.

Career

After the war, he returned to the Birkenhead News to take charge of their Heswall and Deeside edition and to act as holiday relief editor of the Bebington News. After 18 months, he took up a post as chief reporter for the Redditch Indicator and in 1950, joined the Birmingham Post and Mail, as district reporter, working out of their Redditch offices. In the same year, he married Dorothy Betty Gray. In 1952, he was invited to return to the

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

Indicator as editor. He stayed there for 8 years, transforming the paper from an 8-page 'old-fashioned' format, to a 16-page 'modern design'; and celebrating the newspaper's centenary through publication of a special edition. In 1960, he returned to

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

to work at the

Liverpool Daily Post The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013. Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, with the tit ...

as sub-editor. Later, he became Assistant News Editor and Chief Sub-Editor for the Post and then joined the

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...

in 1970, where he was Night News Editor for many years before becoming Assistant Editor and retiring from the Echo in 1989. Following his retirement, he worked part-time at

Candis Magazine ''Candis'' is the magazine of Candis Club, published monthly by Newhall Publishing. It is a membership magazine focusing on health and family living. Regular features include food, gardening, travel and health together with competitions, puzzles ...

for several years. In Merseyside, George Withy became synonymous with the Institute of Journalists (IOJ), now the Chartered Institute of Journalists and was for many years the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

District Chairman as well as the Chairman of the National Salaries and Conditions Board, also at one point serving as a

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

reporter for

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

. He was a former President of the CIOJ (1975–1976) and at their 1975 conference in the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

, he warned of "creeping

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

" in the newspaper and magazine industry.The Times, October 1, 1975 (page 3) He served twice as Chairman of the

National Council for the Training of Journalists The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) was founded in 1951 as organisation to oversee the training of journalists for the newspaper industry in the United Kingdom and is now playing a role in the wider media. It is a self-ap ...

(1971 & 1972) and also served for a number of years on the

. On 1 March 1998 he was awarded a life Fellowship of the CIOJ.

Personal life

During his time in Redditch, he entered into the life of the community, becoming chairman of the local

Round Table The Round Table ( cy, y Ford Gron; kw, an Moos Krenn; br, an Daol Grenn; la, Mensa Rotunda) is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that e ...

. He was also a member of the Redditch

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

, becoming senior vice-president in 1959 and public relations officer for the Redditch Anglo-French Society. Apart from

, George also spent a great deal of time training journalists and focusing his efforts towards furthering the work of the

(NCTJ) and acting as the CIOJ representative on the main council for some 30 years. George Withy suffered from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

during his later years, remaining at home in

Irby Irby may refer to: * Irby (surname), a list of people * Irby, Merseyside, England, a village * Irby, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community * Irby, Washington, United States, an unincorporated community * Irby in the Marsh, Lincolnsh ...

, UK, throughout his illness and being cared for by his wife, Betty, and their two daughters, Carol and Kay. He died peacefully at home, with his family at his side.CIOJ Obituary, http://www.worralls.info/famtree/gw_obit.pdf In recognition of his work supporting journalism on

, the Liverpool Journalism Centre Newsroom at the

Liverpool Community College The City of Liverpool College is one of three colleges of further education in Liverpool, Merseyside. It was established in 1992 by the amalgamation of all four further education colleges within Liverpool. The college is located over several s ...

was dedicated in his memory on 11 March 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Withy, George 1924 births 1998 deaths English male journalists People from Birkenhead People educated at Birkenhead Park School British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery soldiers