Wikipedia

Allied Newspapers

Allied Newspapers Ltd. was a British media consortium with holdings including such national newspapers as The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times. Formed in 1924 by the Welsh brothers William Berry, Lord Camrose, and Gomer Berry (later 1st Viscount Kemsley), along with Sir Edward Iliffe (later 1st Baron Iliffe), Allied Newspapers later became Kemsley Newspapers, becoming the largest newspaper group in Britain. The consortium was acquired in 1959 by Roy Thomson (later 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet), becoming part of his international publishing empire.

Allied Newspapers
IndustryMass media
Founded1924 (as Associated Newspapers)
1945 (as Kemsley Newspapers)
FateAcquired by Roy Thomson (1959)
HeadquartersLondon and Manchester, United Kingdom
Key people
ProductsNewspapers
OwnerWilliam Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose and Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley (1924–1945)
Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley (1945–1959)

History

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Antecedents

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The Berry brothers entered the newspaper business in 1915, purchasing the The Sunday Times. In 1922, Gomer Berry bought the Scottish Daily Record, its sister paper the Sunday Mail, and another newspaper, the Glasgow Evening News, for £1 million. He formed a controlling company known as Associated Scottish Newspapers Ltd.[1]

Formation

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The Berry brothers and Iliffe set up Allied Newspapers in 1924 for the purpose of purchasing the former properties of newspaper proprietor Edward Hulton. (Hulton's son Sir Edward Hulton had expanded his father's newspaper interests and sold his publishing business, based in London and Manchester to Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, and Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, when he retired in 1923.) Allied Newspapers' initial acquisitions included the Daily Dispatch, the Manchester Evening Chronicle, the Sunday Chronicle, and the Sunday Graphic, as well as a string of other newspapers across the country. In Cardiff, Wales, the consortium quickly merged four other papers into the Western Mail.

Allied Newspapers' headquarters was located at Withy Grove, The Printworks (Manchester). The Berry Brothers were co-Chairmen and Iliff was Deputy Chairman of the group.[2] The company's northern newspapers were part of the subsidiary Allied Northern Newspapers.[3]

Allied Newspapers acquired the Daily Sketch from Lords Beaverbrook and Rothmere in 1925; in 1926, the Sketch absorbed the Daily Graphic.[4] The Sketch became part of an Allied Newspapers subsidiary in 1928.[5]

Growth

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In 1926, Allied Newspapers purchased Amalgamated Press (AP), adding a thriving story paper, comic book, and book publishing company to their empire. Lord Camrose's son Seymour served as Vice Chairman of Amalgamated Press from 1942 to 1959 (when AP was acquired by the Mirror Group).[6]

In 1927 Allied Newspapers purchased The Daily Telegraph from the 2nd Harry Levy-Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham, with Camrose becoming its editor-in-chief. In 1937 the consortium purchased The Telegraph's rival, The Morning Post. Camrose concentrated his efforts on The Telegraph, buying out his partners and merging The Morning Post into The Telegraph. His sons Seymour, and subsequently Michael, continued to run the newspaper until 1986.

Kemsley Newspapers

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With Lord Camrose concentrating on The Daily Telegraph, Allied Newspapers was dissolved in 1945 and renamed Kemsley Newspapers, with Gomer Berry (now known as Lord Kemsley) in charge.[7] Meanwhile, Camrose retained Amalgamated Press, installing his son Seymour Berry, 2nd Viscount Camrose, as Vice Chairman in 1942.

Kemsley served as chairman of the Reuters News Agency from 1951 to 1958.[8]

In 1952 Kemsley sold the Daily Sketch (at that point known as the Daily Graphic)[9] to Esmond Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere, and Associated Newspapers, the owner of the Daily Mail.[10] At that point, Lord Kemsley owned 31 newspapers across the U.K, though mostly smaller papers.[10]

Kemsley sold his Scottish holdings — the Daily Record, the Sunday Mail and Evening News — to the London-based Mirror Group in 1955.

Purchase by Roy Thomson

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By 1959, Kemsley Newsapers was considered the largest newspaper group in Britain. At that point, it was acquired by Roy Thomson (later 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet).[11][12][13][14] (At the time of the sale, Lord Kemsley was editor-in-chief of the The Sunday Times; his son Lionel Berry, 2nd Viscount Kemsley, was deputy chairman.)[8] 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 (established in 1978) became a multinational corporation, with interests in publishing, printing, television, and travel.

Amalgamated Press, meanwhile, was bought by the Mirror Group in 1959 and renamed Fleetway Publications (after the name of AP's headquarters, Fleetway House).[15]

Allied/Kemsley newspaper holdings

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References

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  1. ^ "Mackintosh Architecture: Biography". www.mackintosh-architecture.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Lord Iliffe – A Lifetime in the Newspaper Industry". The Times. 26 July 1960. p. 13.
  3. ^ ""Gone and (largely) forgotten". British Journalism Review. 2006. pp. 50–52. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28.
  4. ^ "Amalgamation of 'Daily Graphic' and 'Daily Sketch'". The Times. 16 October 1926. p. 4.
  5. ^ Griffiths, Dennis, ed. (1992). The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan. p. 187.
  6. ^ "Fleetway – A History". Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  7. ^ Heys, Harold (4 February 2011). "End of life for the Chron". Gentlemen Ranters. Retrieved 28 August 2013. Withy Grove had a succession of owners, from founder Ned Hulton, to his son Sir Edward Hulton, briefly to the Daily Mail Trust and then to Lord Camrose and Viscount Kemsley as Allied Newspapers which became Kemsley Newspapers in 1945. Roy, later Lord, Thomson took over in 1959 and eventually Cap'n Bob took charge ... Withy Grove was eventually sold and revamped and is now the Printworks, a £150 million entertainment, restaurant and leisure complex.
  8. ^ a b "Lord Kemsley Dies, Retired News Magnate" (PDF). Daily Freeman. Kingston, New York. 6 February 1968.
  9. ^ "Our London Correspondence". Manchester Guardian. 2 January 1953. p. 4.
  10. ^ a b "The Press: Bigger Press Lord". Time. 22 December 1952.
  11. ^ Tate, Steve (2009). "Hulton, Edward (1838–1904)". In Brake, Laurel; Demoor, Marysa (eds.). Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Gent: Academia Press. p. 296. ISBN 9789038213408.
  12. ^ Porter, Dilwyn (2004). "Hulton, Sir Edward, baronet (1869–1925), newspaper proprietor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34048. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 22 August 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  13. ^ Smith, Adrian (2004). "Berry, William Ewert, first Viscount Camrose (1879–1954), newspaper proprietor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30733. Retrieved 5 September 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  14. ^ Smith, Adrian (2004). "Berry, (James) Gomer, first Viscount Kemsley (1883–1968), newspaper proprietor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30731. Retrieved 5 September 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  15. ^ "Fleetway – A History". Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  16. ^ Lonsdale, Sarah (2020). Rebel Women Between the Wars: Fearless Writers and Adventurers. Manchester University Press. p. 347. ISBN 978-1-5261-3711-1.
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