Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, (5 June 1894 – 4 August 1976) was a Canadian-born British newspaper proprietor who became one of the moguls of

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

in London. He first came to prominence when he was selling radios in Ontario, and to give his customers more programmes to listen to, decided to launch his own radio station. He then moved into newspapers, becoming as wealthy and important in Canada as the press barons in the United Kingdom. He aspired to such a peerage but was denied it unless he moved residence to the UK. He invited British newspaper owners to sell to him, the first doing so being '' The Scotsman'' and he soon formed a commercial television company which gained the first

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

franchise in Scotland, the Scottish Television, today known as STV, which is also nowadays the last ITV franchise not to be owned by ITV plc. From the substantial profits of commercial television he bought many titles such as '' The Times'' and Kemsley's Newspapers which published '' The Sunday Times''; both of these are nowadays owned by News UK, a division of

News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...

Early life

Thomson was born on 5 June 1894 as Roy Herbert Thomson in Toronto, then part of York County, Ontario, Canada. His father was Herbert Thomson, a telegraphist turned barber who worked at Toronto's Grosvenor Hotel (at the corner of Yonge and Alexander streets – now the site of the Courtyard Marriott), and English-born Alice Maud. The family lived at 32 Monteith Street, off Church Street in Toronto. Thomson's paternal grandparents were Hugh Thomson and Mary Nichol Sylvester. Hugh was one of ten children of George Thomson, son of Archibald Thomson (born May 1749). Thomson's ancestors were small tenant farmers on the estates of the Dukes of Buccleuch at Bo'ness, in the parish of

Westerkirk, Dumfriesshire Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits nort ...

, Scotland. Archibald Thomson emigrated from Westerkirk to Canada (then British North America) in 1773, and married Elizabeth McKay of Quebec. The family eventually settled in Upper Canada, but retained a sentimental attachment to their country of origin. Archibald's brother David Thomson was the first European settler of Scarborough, Ontario.

Career

During World War I, Roy Thomson attended a business college, and owing to bad eyesight he was rejected by the army. He went to Manitoba after the war to become a farmer, but was unsuccessful. Thomson returned to Toronto, where he held several jobs at different times, one of which was selling radio receivers. However, he found selling radios difficult because the only district left for him to work in was Northern Ontario. In order to give his potential customers something to listen to, he undertook to establish a radio station. By quite a stroke of luck, he was able to procure a radio frequency and transmitter for $201. CFCH officially went on the air in North Bay, Ontario, on 3 March 1931. He sold radio receivers for quite some time after that, but his focus gradually shifted to the radio station. Thomson purchased the ''

Timmins Daily Press The ''Timmins Daily Press'' is a newspaper in Timmins, Ontario, which publishes six days a week. It is notable as the first paper founded by press baron Roy Thomson in the 1930s, who would eventually own more than 200 newspapers including ''The ...

'' in Timmins, Ontario, his first newspaper, with a down payment of $200 in 1934 (an equivalent of $3,816 in 2021). He began an expansion of radio stations and newspapers in various Ontario locations in partnership with fellow Canadian

Jack Kent Cooke Jack Kent Cooke (October 25, 1912 – April 6, 1997) was a Canadian-American businessman in broadcasting and professional sports. Starting in sales, Cooke was very successful, eventually becoming a partner in a network of radio stations and news ...

. In addition to his media acquisitions, by 1949 Thomson was the owner of a diverse group of companies, including several ladies' hairstyling businesses, a fitted kitchen manufacturer, and an

ice-cream cone An ice cream cone, poke (Ireland/Scotland) or cornet (England) is a brittle, cone-shaped pastry, usually made of a wafer similar in texture to a waffle, made so ice cream can be carried and eaten without a bowl or spoon, for example, the Hong Kon ...

manufacturing operation. By the early 1950s, he owned 19 newspapers and was president of the Canadian Daily Newspaper Publishers Association, and then began his first foray into the British newspaper business by starting up the ''Canadian Weekly Review'' to cater to expatriate Canadians living in Britain. He aspired to a peerage, similar to the press barons of the UK, and moved across the Atlantic, settling in Edinburgh. In 1952, Thomson bought '' The Scotsman'' newspaper in Edinburgh from its impecunious owners. In 1957, Thomson launched a successful bid for the commercial television franchise for Central Scotland, named Scottish Television, basing it in the

Theatre Royal, Glasgow The Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre in Glasgow and the longest running in Scotland. Located at 282 Hope Street, its front door was originally round the corner in Cowcaddens Street. It currently accommodates 1,541 people and is owned by Scotti ...

. It became highly profitable, with Thomson describing it as a "permit to print money" (often misquoted as a "licence to print money"). In 1959, Thomson purchased the Kemsley group of newspapers, the largest in Britain, which included '' The Sunday Times''. Over the years, Thomson expanded his media empire to include more than 200 newspapers in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. His Thomson Organization became a multinational corporation, with interests in

publishing 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 ...

, printing, television, and travel. In 1966, Thomson bought '' The Times'' newspaper from members of the Astor family. In the 1970s, Thomson joined with

J. Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American-born British petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, he was the son of pi ...

in a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

that successfully explored for oil in the North Sea. A modest man, who had little time for pretentious displays of wealth, in Britain he got by virtually unnoticed, riding the London Underground to his office each day. Nonetheless, he made his son Kenneth promise to use the hereditary title that he had received in 1964, if only in the London offices of the firm. Toronto - ON - Roy Thomson Hall

Personal life

On 29 July 1916, Thomson married Edna Annis Irvine (1895-1951) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Edna A. Irvine was the daughter of John Irvine and Rebecca Caldwell. Thomson had three children: Kenneth Roy Thomson (1923–2006), Irma Jacqueline Thomson (b. 20 October 1918) and Phyllis Audrey Thomson (b. 6 July 1917). On 22 February 1951, Thomson's wife Edna died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 1952, Thomson moved to Edinburgh. As of 1964 and 1965, Thomson owned a residence near Port Credit, on Mississauga Road. In 1976, Thomson died in London, England. A plaque was placed in the crypt of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

. After Thomson's death in 1976, his son Kenneth became chair of Thomson Corporation and inherited the

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

ial title becoming the 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet. With the Thomson operations now principally again in Canada, the younger Thomson did not use his title in Canada though he did so in Britain, and used two sets of stationery reflecting this dichotomy. In any case, as the peerage title he had was inherited, it did not debar him from retaining his Canadian citizenship, and he never took up his right to a seat in the pre-1999 House of Lords.

Legacy

Roy Thomson Hall, one of Toronto's main concert halls, is named in his honour as the Thomson family donated $5.4 million to its construction. Thomson Student Centre at

Memorial University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and ...

was named in his honour. It opened 25 May 1968, by the Right Honourable Lord Thomson of Fleet, chancellor of Memorial University of Newfoundland from 1961 to 1968.

Descendants

Thomson's family continues to use the Baron of Fleet title. A select family tree is shown below:

Honours

In the

1964 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1964 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1964 to celebrat ...

, it was announced that Thomson would be elevated to the

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks. Peerages include: Australia * Australian peers Belgium * Belgi ...

as a

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

"for public services". On 10 March 1964 he was made Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh. In order to receive this title, it was necessary for Thomson to acquire British citizenship, as the Canadian government had made it common practice since 1919 to disallow the conference of titular honours from the sovereign on Canadians. However, the Canadian ''Citizenship Act'' between 1947 and 1977 stated that any Canadian who became a citizen of another country through means other than marriage would cease to be a Canadian citizen. Thus, Thomson lost his

Canadian citizenship Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in Ca ...

in the process. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the

1970 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1970 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the '' Lo ...

. In 1972, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Arms

References

External links

The men who made The Scotsman: Part two

''Never a Backward Step''
a 1966 National Film Board of Canada documentary on Thompson (requires Adobe Flash) {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Roy Herbert 1894 births 1976 deaths Businesspeople in tourism Canadian newspaper chain founders Canadian mass media company founders Canadian people of English descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian university and college chancellors Canadian peers Canadian socialites Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Candidates in the 1953 Canadian federal election Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire People from Old Toronto Roy Gardiner family Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II