Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, GBE (5 June 1894 – 4 August 1976) was a Canadian-born British newspaper proprietor who became one of the moguls of Fleet Street in London.[2]
"Roy Thomson" redirects here. For the Scottish politician, see Roy Hendry Thomson. For similarly named people, see Roy Thompson (disambiguation).
The Lord Thomson of Fleet
4 August 1976 (aged 82)
London, England
Toronto[1]
3, including Kenneth
Established radio station CFCH (1931), acquired Timmins Daily Press (1934), successful newspaper and other media entrepreneur.
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 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 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;[3] both of these are nowadays owned by News UK, a division of News Corp.
Early life[edit]
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, 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.
Honours[edit]
In the 1964 New Year Honours, it was announced that Thomson would be elevated to the peerage as a Baron "for public services".[14] On 10 March 1964 he was made Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh.[15] 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 in the process.
He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1970 New Year Honours.[16]
In 1972, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[17]