James Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, GBE (7 May 1883 – 6 February 1968) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

colliery owner and

newspaper publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Background

Berry was born the son of John Mathias and Mary Ann (née Rowe) Berry, of

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He was the younger brother of

Henry Berry, 1st Baron Buckland Henry Seymour Berry, 1st Baron Buckland (17 September 1877 – 23 May 1928), was a Wales, Welsh financier and industrialist. Background The eldest of three sons, all born in Merthyr Tydfil to solicitor John Mathias Berry (born 2 May 1847; died 9 ...

, an industrialist, and

William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose DL (23 June 1879 – 15 June 1954) was a British peer and newspaper publisher. Life and career Berry was born in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, the second of three sons of Mary Ann (Rowe) and John Mathias Ber ...

, a fellow press lord.

Career

Berry originally co-owned ''

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 ...

'' with his second brother

Lord Camrose William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose Deputy lieutenant, DL (23 June 1879 – 15 June 1954) was a British peer and newspaper publisher. Life and career Berry was born in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, the second of three sons of Mary Ann (Rowe) an ...

, and

Lord Burnham Baron Burnham, of Hall Barn in the Parish of Beaconsfield in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 31 July 1903 for the influential newspaper magnate Sir Edward Levy-Lawson, 1st Baronet, o ...

. He founded Kemsley Newspapers, which owned ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', ''

The Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton. It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berry ...

'' and ''

The Sunday Graphic The ''Sunday Graphic'' was an English tabloid newspaper published in Fleet Street. The newspaper was founded in 1915 as the ''Sunday Herald'' and was later renamed the ''Illustrated Sunday Herald''. In 1927 it changed its name to the ''Sunday ...

'' amongst its titles. Berry was chairman of the

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

News Agency from 1951 to 1958. In 1954, Berry was part of the Kemsley-Winnick consortium, which won the initial ITV weekend contracts for the Midlands and the North of England. Berry had cold feet over the financial risk, and withdrew, causing the consortium to collapse. In 1959, Kemsley Newspapers was bought by

Lord Thomson Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson, (13 April 1875 – 5 October 1930) was a British Army officer who went on to serve as a Labour minister and peer. He served as Secretary of State for Air under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and betw ...

, ironically enabled by Thomson's profits from

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...

Honours

Berry was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1928, and was appointed as an Officer of the

Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of ...

in 1931. In 1936, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kemsley, of

Farnham Royal Farnham Royal is a village and civil parish within Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the south of the county, immediately north of Slough (with which it is contiguous), and around 22 miles west of Charing Cross, Central London. Within the parish ...

in the County of Buckingham, and advanced to Viscount Kemsley, of Dropmore in the County of Buckingham, in 1945. In 1929 he was appointed

High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire The High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. High Sheriff, Sheriff is the olde ...

and in 1959, a Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(GBE) for "political and public service".

Marriages and family

Lord Kemsley married twice. He married firstly in 1907 Mary Lilian Holmes, daughter of Horace George Holmes and Mary Johnston née Macgregor, with whom he had six sons and a daughter: * (Geoffrey) Lionel Berry, 2nd Viscount Kemsley (born 29 June 1909, died 28 February 1999) *

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Hon Hon or HON may refer to: People * Han (surname) (Chinese: 韩/韓), also romanized Hon * Louis Hon (1924–2008), French footballer * Priscilla Hon (born 1998), Australian tennis player Other uses * Hon (Baltimore), a cultural stereotype of ...

Denis Gomer Berry (born 11 July 1911, died 30 September 1983), father of

Richard Berry, 3rd Viscount Kemsley Richard Gomer Berry, 3rd Viscount Kemsley (born 17 April 1951), is a British peer. Biography Berry was born on 17 April 1951, the only son of Major Hon. Denis Gomer Berry and his second wife, Pamela Wellesley. Berry's paternal grandfather was Go ...

. Denis married Rosemary Leonora Ruth de Rothschild for the first time.Rosemary Leonara Ruth de Rothschild (1913-2013)
Rothschild Archive * Hon William Neville Berry (born 16 June 1914, died 19 May 1998) * Hon John Douglas Berry (born 1 May 1916, killed in action 10 October 1944) * Hon Mary Pamela Berry (born 13 June 1918, died 29 January 1998) * Flt Lt Hon Herbert Oswald Berry (born 13 June 1918, died 8 June 1952) * Hon Sir Anthony George Berry (born 12 February 1925, killed 12 October 1984) His first wife died on 1 February 1928 and on 30 April 1931 he married Marie Edith Dresselhuys (''née'' Merandon du Plessis), daughter of E. N. Merandon du Plessis, heir of an old British colonial sugar estate in

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

, and mother of socialite Ghislaine Dresselhuys from her first marriage. There were no children of this marriage. Upon his death, Viscount Kemsley was buried in St Anne's churchyard, Dropmore. Marie Edith, Viscountess Kemsley OBE was buried with him following her death on 12 September 1976. The title passed to his eldest son Lionel. His youngest son,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician the Honourable Sir Anthony Berry, was killed by the

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

in the 1984

Brighton hotel bombing A Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) assassination attempt against members of the British government took place on 12 October 1984 at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom. A long-delay time bomb was plante ...

Works

As owner of Kemsley Newspapers, Viscount Kemsley made several written contributions to his in-house journal ''The Kemsley Writer''. Kemsley also oversaw the publication of the large format hardcover book ''The Kemsley Manual of Journalism'' (Cassell, 1950). Sub-titled ''A Comprehensive Guide to the Practice and Principles of Modern Journalism'', this featured an introduction by Kemsley and an essay from his Foreign Manager

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

, later the author of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

novels.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kemsley, Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount 1883 births 1968 deaths Berry, Gomer British newspaper publishers (people) Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Peers created by Edward VIII 20th-century Welsh businesspeople Welsh journalists Officers of the Order of St John High Sheriffs of Buckinghamshire Gomer Berry Viscounts created by George VI