Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Encyclopedia
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE
(June 5, 1894 – August 4, 1976) was a Canadian newspaper
proprietor and media entrepreneur.
, Ontario, the son of Herbert Thomson, a telegraphist turned barber who worked at Toronto's Grosvenor Hotel, and English
-born Alice Coombs. Herbert was born in Toronto to parents Hugh Thomson and Mary Nichol Sylvester. His father was one of ten children of George Thomson, son of Archibald Thomson, brother of David Thomson, first settler of Scarborough, Ontario
. He left Canada
following the disappearance of George Thomson to New York City
and returned later to settle in Toronto permanently.
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 travelled to Toronto again, where he held several jobs at different times; one of which was selling radios. 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 March 3, 1931. He sold radios for quite some time after that, but his focus gradually shifted to his radio station, rather than the actual radios.
In 1934, Thomson acquired his first newspaper. With a down payment of $200 he purchased the Timmins Daily Press
, in Timmins, Ontario
. He would begin an expansion of both radio stations and newspapers in various Ontario locations in partnership with fellow Canadian, Jack Kent Cooke
. 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 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.
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
. Thomson's ancestor, Archibald Thomson (born May 1749), migrated to British North America
in 1773, marrying Elizabeth McKay, of Quebec
. The family eventually settled in Upper Canada
, but retained a sentimental attachment to their country of origin. As a result, Thomson himself made the decision to move to Edinburgh
where in 1952 he purchased The Scotsman
newspaper.
In 1957, he launched a successful bid for the commercial television
franchise for Central Scotland, named Scottish Television
, which he was to describe as a "licence to print money". In 1959 he purchased the Kemsley group of newspapers, the largest in Britain, which included The Sunday Times
. Over the years, he would expand 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
, printing
, television
, and travel
. In 1966, Thomson bought The Times
newspaper from members of the Astor family
.
In 1964 he was made Baron Thomson of Fleet
. 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 Canadian Monarch
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.
In the 1970s, Thomson joined with J. Paul Getty
in a consortium
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.
Thomson died in London in 1976. At the time of his death, his son Kenneth Thomson
became chair of Thomson Corporation
and inherited the baron
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 bothered to take up his right to a seat in the pre-1999 House of Lords
.
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 died in London and a plaque was placed in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral
.
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE
(June 5, 1894 – August 4, 1976) was a Canadian newspaper
proprietor and media entrepreneur.
, Ontario, the son of Herbert Thomson, a telegraphist turned barber who worked at Toronto's Grosvenor Hotel, and English
-born Alice Coombs. Herbert was born in Toronto to parents Hugh Thomson and Mary Nichol Sylvester. His father was one of ten children of George Thomson, son of Archibald Thomson, brother of David Thomson, first settler of Scarborough, Ontario
. He left Canada
following the disappearance of George Thomson to New York City
and returned later to settle in Toronto permanently.
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 travelled to Toronto again, where he held several jobs at different times; one of which was selling radios. 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 March 3, 1931. He sold radios for quite some time after that, but his focus gradually shifted to his radio station, rather than the actual radios.
In 1934, Thomson acquired his first newspaper. With a down payment of $200 he purchased the Timmins Daily Press
, in Timmins, Ontario
. He would begin an expansion of both radio stations and newspapers in various Ontario locations in partnership with fellow Canadian, Jack Kent Cooke
. 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 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.
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
. Thomson's ancestor, Archibald Thomson (born May 1749), migrated to British North America
in 1773, marrying Elizabeth McKay, of Quebec
. The family eventually settled in Upper Canada
, but retained a sentimental attachment to their country of origin. As a result, Thomson himself made the decision to move to Edinburgh
where in 1952 he purchased The Scotsman
newspaper.
In 1957, he launched a successful bid for the commercial television
franchise for Central Scotland, named Scottish Television
, which he was to describe as a "licence to print money". In 1959 he purchased the Kemsley group of newspapers, the largest in Britain, which included The Sunday Times
. Over the years, he would expand 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
, printing
, television
, and travel
. In 1966, Thomson bought The Times
newspaper from members of the Astor family
.
In 1964 he was made Baron Thomson of Fleet
. 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 Canadian Monarch
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.
In the 1970s, Thomson joined with J. Paul Getty
in a consortium
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.
Thomson died in London in 1976. At the time of his death, his son Kenneth Thomson
became chair of Thomson Corporation
and inherited the baron
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 bothered to take up his right to a seat in the pre-1999 House of Lords
.
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 died in London and a plaque was placed in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral
.
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE
(June 5, 1894 – August 4, 1976) was a Canadian newspaper
proprietor and media entrepreneur.
, Ontario, the son of Herbert Thomson, a telegraphist turned barber who worked at Toronto's Grosvenor Hotel, and English
-born Alice Coombs. Herbert was born in Toronto to parents Hugh Thomson and Mary Nichol Sylvester. His father was one of ten children of George Thomson, son of Archibald Thomson, brother of David Thomson, first settler of Scarborough, Ontario
. He left Canada
following the disappearance of George Thomson to New York City
and returned later to settle in Toronto permanently.
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 travelled to Toronto again, where he held several jobs at different times; one of which was selling radios. 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 March 3, 1931. He sold radios for quite some time after that, but his focus gradually shifted to his radio station, rather than the actual radios.
In 1934, Thomson acquired his first newspaper. With a down payment of $200 he purchased the Timmins Daily Press
, in Timmins, Ontario
. He would begin an expansion of both radio stations and newspapers in various Ontario locations in partnership with fellow Canadian, Jack Kent Cooke
. 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 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.
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
. Thomson's ancestor, Archibald Thomson (born May 1749), migrated to British North America
in 1773, marrying Elizabeth McKay, of Quebec
. The family eventually settled in Upper Canada
, but retained a sentimental attachment to their country of origin. As a result, Thomson himself made the decision to move to Edinburgh
where in 1952 he purchased The Scotsman
newspaper.
In 1957, he launched a successful bid for the commercial television
franchise for Central Scotland, named Scottish Television
, which he was to describe as a "licence to print money". In 1959 he purchased the Kemsley group of newspapers, the largest in Britain, which included The Sunday Times
. Over the years, he would expand 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
, printing
, television
, and travel
. In 1966, Thomson bought The Times
newspaper from members of the Astor family
.
In 1964 he was made Baron Thomson of Fleet
. 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 Canadian Monarch
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.
In the 1970s, Thomson joined with J. Paul Getty
in a consortium
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.
Thomson died in London in 1976. At the time of his death, his son Kenneth Thomson
became chair of Thomson Corporation
and inherited the baron
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 bothered to take up his right to a seat in the pre-1999 House of Lords
.
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 died in London and a plaque was placed in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(June 5, 1894 – August 4, 1976) was a Canadian newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
proprietor and media entrepreneur.
Career
Roy Herbert Thomson was born in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario, the son of Herbert Thomson, a telegraphist turned barber who worked at Toronto's Grosvenor Hotel, and English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born Alice Coombs. Herbert was born in Toronto to parents Hugh Thomson and Mary Nichol Sylvester. His father was one of ten children of George Thomson, son of Archibald Thomson, brother of David Thomson, first settler of Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
. He left Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
following the disappearance of George Thomson to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and returned later to settle in Toronto permanently.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Roy Thomson attended a business college
Business college
A business college is a school that provides education above the high school level but could not be compared to that of a regular University or College...
, and owing to bad eyesight he was rejected by the army. He went to Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
after the war to become a farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
, but was unsuccessful. Thomson travelled to Toronto again, where he held several jobs at different times; one of which was selling radios. However, he found selling radios difficult because the only district left for him to work in was Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
. 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
North Bay, Ontario
North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing.-History:...
on March 3, 1931. He sold radios for quite some time after that, but his focus gradually shifted to his radio station, rather than the actual radios.
In 1934, Thomson acquired his first newspaper. With a down payment of $200 he purchased the Timmins Daily Press
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 bought by press baron Roy Thomson, who would eventually own more than 200 newspapers including The Times...
, in Timmins, Ontario
Timmins, Ontario
Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997...
. He would begin an expansion of both radio stations and newspapers in various Ontario locations in partnership with fellow Canadian, Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins , the Los Angeles Lakers , and the Los Angeles Kings , and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.-Early career:Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to...
. 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 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.
Thomson’s ancestors were small tenant farmers on the estates of the Dukes of Buccleuch at Bo'ness
Bo'ness
Bo'ness, properly Borrowstounness, is a coastal town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on a hillside on the south bank of the Firth of Forth within the Falkirk council area, north-west of Edinburgh and east of Falkirk. At the 2001 census, Bo'ness had a resident population of 13,961...
, in the parish of Westerkirk, Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries is a registration county of Scotland. The lieutenancy area of Dumfries has similar boundaries.Until 1975 it was a county. Its county town was Dumfries...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Thomson's ancestor, Archibald Thomson (born May 1749), migrated to British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
in 1773, marrying Elizabeth McKay, of Quebec
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. The family eventually settled in Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
, but retained a sentimental attachment to their country of origin. As a result, Thomson himself made the decision to move to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
where in 1952 he purchased The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
newspaper.
In 1957, he launched a successful bid for the commercial television
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
franchise for Central Scotland, named Scottish Television
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
, which he was to describe as a "licence to print money". In 1959 he purchased the Kemsley group of newspapers, the largest in Britain, which included The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
. Over the years, he would expand his media empire to include more than 200 newspapers in Canada, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. His Thomson Organization
Thomson Organization
International Thomson Organization was a development of the commercial empire founded by Lord Thomson of Fleet . It was formed in 1978 as a holding company for interests in publishing, travel, and natural resources...
became a multinational corporation
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
, with interests in publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, and travel
Travel
Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...
. In 1966, Thomson bought The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper from members of the Astor family
Astor family
The Astor family is a Anglo-American business family of German descent notable for their prominence in business, society, and politics.-Founding family members:...
.
In 1964 he was made Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1964 for the newspaper magnate Roy Thomson...
. 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 Canadian Monarch
Monarchy in Canada
The monarchy of Canada is the core of both Canada's federalism and its Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government and each provincial government...
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.
In the 1970s, Thomson joined with J. Paul Getty
J. Paul Getty
Jean Paul Getty was an American industrialist. He founded the Getty Oil Company, and in 1957 Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, whilst the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1,200 million. At his death, he was...
in a consortium
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
that successfully explored for oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
A modest man, who had little time for pretentious displays of wealth, in Britain he got by virtually unnoticed, riding the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
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
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
offices of the firm.
Thomson died in London in 1976. At the time of his death, his son Kenneth Thomson
Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet
Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet , in Canada known as Ken Thomson, was a Canadian businessman and art collector who, at the time of his death, was the richest person in Canada, and the ninth richest person in the world, according to Forbes.com, with assets of approximately US $17.9...
became chair of Thomson Corporation
Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies.Thomson was active in financial services, healthcare sectors, law, science & technology research, and tax & accounting sectors...
and inherited the baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
ial title becoming the 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1964 for the newspaper magnate Roy Thomson...
. 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 bothered to take up his right to a seat in the pre-1999 House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60 Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian...
, one of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's main concert halls, is named in his honour as the Thomson family donated $5.4 million to its construction.
Thomson died in London and a plaque was placed in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
.
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(June 5, 1894 – August 4, 1976) was a Canadian newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
proprietor and media entrepreneur.
Career
Roy Herbert Thomson was born in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario, the son of Herbert Thomson, a telegraphist turned barber who worked at Toronto's Grosvenor Hotel, and English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born Alice Coombs. Herbert was born in Toronto to parents Hugh Thomson and Mary Nichol Sylvester. His father was one of ten children of George Thomson, son of Archibald Thomson, brother of David Thomson, first settler of Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
. He left Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
following the disappearance of George Thomson to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and returned later to settle in Toronto permanently.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Roy Thomson attended a business college
Business college
A business college is a school that provides education above the high school level but could not be compared to that of a regular University or College...
, and owing to bad eyesight he was rejected by the army. He went to Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
after the war to become a farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
, but was unsuccessful. Thomson travelled to Toronto again, where he held several jobs at different times; one of which was selling radios. However, he found selling radios difficult because the only district left for him to work in was Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
. 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
North Bay, Ontario
North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing.-History:...
on March 3, 1931. He sold radios for quite some time after that, but his focus gradually shifted to his radio station, rather than the actual radios.
In 1934, Thomson acquired his first newspaper. With a down payment of $200 he purchased the Timmins Daily Press
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 bought by press baron Roy Thomson, who would eventually own more than 200 newspapers including The Times...
, in Timmins, Ontario
Timmins, Ontario
Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997...
. He would begin an expansion of both radio stations and newspapers in various Ontario locations in partnership with fellow Canadian, Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins , the Los Angeles Lakers , and the Los Angeles Kings , and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.-Early career:Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to...
. 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 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.
Thomson’s ancestors were small tenant farmers on the estates of the Dukes of Buccleuch at Bo'ness
Bo'ness
Bo'ness, properly Borrowstounness, is a coastal town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on a hillside on the south bank of the Firth of Forth within the Falkirk council area, north-west of Edinburgh and east of Falkirk. At the 2001 census, Bo'ness had a resident population of 13,961...
, in the parish of Westerkirk, Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries is a registration county of Scotland. The lieutenancy area of Dumfries has similar boundaries.Until 1975 it was a county. Its county town was Dumfries...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Thomson's ancestor, Archibald Thomson (born May 1749), migrated to British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
in 1773, marrying Elizabeth McKay, of Quebec
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. The family eventually settled in Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
, but retained a sentimental attachment to their country of origin. As a result, Thomson himself made the decision to move to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
where in 1952 he purchased The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
newspaper.
In 1957, he launched a successful bid for the commercial television
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
franchise for Central Scotland, named Scottish Television
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
, which he was to describe as a "licence to print money". In 1959 he purchased the Kemsley group of newspapers, the largest in Britain, which included The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
. Over the years, he would expand his media empire to include more than 200 newspapers in Canada, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. His Thomson Organization
Thomson Organization
International Thomson Organization was a development of the commercial empire founded by Lord Thomson of Fleet . It was formed in 1978 as a holding company for interests in publishing, travel, and natural resources...
became a multinational corporation
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
, with interests in publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, and travel
Travel
Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...
. In 1966, Thomson bought The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper from members of the Astor family
Astor family
The Astor family is a Anglo-American business family of German descent notable for their prominence in business, society, and politics.-Founding family members:...
.
In 1964 he was made Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1964 for the newspaper magnate Roy Thomson...
. 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 Canadian Monarch
Monarchy in Canada
The monarchy of Canada is the core of both Canada's federalism and its Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government and each provincial government...
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.
In the 1970s, Thomson joined with J. Paul Getty
J. Paul Getty
Jean Paul Getty was an American industrialist. He founded the Getty Oil Company, and in 1957 Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, whilst the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1,200 million. At his death, he was...
in a consortium
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
that successfully explored for oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
A modest man, who had little time for pretentious displays of wealth, in Britain he got by virtually unnoticed, riding the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
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
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
offices of the firm.
Thomson died in London in 1976. At the time of his death, his son Kenneth Thomson
Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet
Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet , in Canada known as Ken Thomson, was a Canadian businessman and art collector who, at the time of his death, was the richest person in Canada, and the ninth richest person in the world, according to Forbes.com, with assets of approximately US $17.9...
became chair of Thomson Corporation
Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies.Thomson was active in financial services, healthcare sectors, law, science & technology research, and tax & accounting sectors...
and inherited the baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
ial title becoming the 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1964 for the newspaper magnate Roy Thomson...
. 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 bothered to take up his right to a seat in the pre-1999 House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60 Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian...
, one of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's main concert halls, is named in his honour as the Thomson family donated $5.4 million to its construction.
Thomson died in London and a plaque was placed in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
.
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(June 5, 1894 – August 4, 1976) was a Canadian newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
proprietor and media entrepreneur.
Career
Roy Herbert Thomson was born in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario, the son of Herbert Thomson, a telegraphist turned barber who worked at Toronto's Grosvenor Hotel, and English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born Alice Coombs. Herbert was born in Toronto to parents Hugh Thomson and Mary Nichol Sylvester. His father was one of ten children of George Thomson, son of Archibald Thomson, brother of David Thomson, first settler of Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
. He left Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
following the disappearance of George Thomson to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and returned later to settle in Toronto permanently.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Roy Thomson attended a business college
Business college
A business college is a school that provides education above the high school level but could not be compared to that of a regular University or College...
, and owing to bad eyesight he was rejected by the army. He went to Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
after the war to become a farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
, but was unsuccessful. Thomson travelled to Toronto again, where he held several jobs at different times; one of which was selling radios. However, he found selling radios difficult because the only district left for him to work in was Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
. 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
North Bay, Ontario
North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing.-History:...
on March 3, 1931. He sold radios for quite some time after that, but his focus gradually shifted to his radio station, rather than the actual radios.
In 1934, Thomson acquired his first newspaper. With a down payment of $200 he purchased the Timmins Daily Press
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 bought by press baron Roy Thomson, who would eventually own more than 200 newspapers including The Times...
, in Timmins, Ontario
Timmins, Ontario
Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997...
. He would begin an expansion of both radio stations and newspapers in various Ontario locations in partnership with fellow Canadian, Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins , the Los Angeles Lakers , and the Los Angeles Kings , and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.-Early career:Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to...
. 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 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.
Thomson’s ancestors were small tenant farmers on the estates of the Dukes of Buccleuch at Bo'ness
Bo'ness
Bo'ness, properly Borrowstounness, is a coastal town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on a hillside on the south bank of the Firth of Forth within the Falkirk council area, north-west of Edinburgh and east of Falkirk. At the 2001 census, Bo'ness had a resident population of 13,961...
, in the parish of Westerkirk, Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries is a registration county of Scotland. The lieutenancy area of Dumfries has similar boundaries.Until 1975 it was a county. Its county town was Dumfries...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. Thomson's ancestor, Archibald Thomson (born May 1749), migrated to British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
in 1773, marrying Elizabeth McKay, of Quebec
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
. The family eventually settled in Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
, but retained a sentimental attachment to their country of origin. As a result, Thomson himself made the decision to move to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
where in 1952 he purchased The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
newspaper.
In 1957, he launched a successful bid for the commercial television
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
franchise for Central Scotland, named Scottish Television
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
, which he was to describe as a "licence to print money". In 1959 he purchased the Kemsley group of newspapers, the largest in Britain, which included The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
. Over the years, he would expand his media empire to include more than 200 newspapers in Canada, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. His Thomson Organization
Thomson Organization
International Thomson Organization was a development of the commercial empire founded by Lord Thomson of Fleet . It was formed in 1978 as a holding company for interests in publishing, travel, and natural resources...
became a multinational corporation
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
, with interests in publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
, printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, and travel
Travel
Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...
. In 1966, Thomson bought The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper from members of the Astor family
Astor family
The Astor family is a Anglo-American business family of German descent notable for their prominence in business, society, and politics.-Founding family members:...
.
In 1964 he was made Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1964 for the newspaper magnate Roy Thomson...
. 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 Canadian Monarch
Monarchy in Canada
The monarchy of Canada is the core of both Canada's federalism and its Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government and each provincial government...
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.
In the 1970s, Thomson joined with J. Paul Getty
J. Paul Getty
Jean Paul Getty was an American industrialist. He founded the Getty Oil Company, and in 1957 Fortune magazine named him the richest living American, whilst the 1966 Guinness Book of Records named him as the world's richest private citizen, worth an estimated $1,200 million. At his death, he was...
in a consortium
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
that successfully explored for oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
A modest man, who had little time for pretentious displays of wealth, in Britain he got by virtually unnoticed, riding the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
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
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
offices of the firm.
Thomson died in London in 1976. At the time of his death, his son Kenneth Thomson
Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet
Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet , in Canada known as Ken Thomson, was a Canadian businessman and art collector who, at the time of his death, was the richest person in Canada, and the ninth richest person in the world, according to Forbes.com, with assets of approximately US $17.9...
became chair of Thomson Corporation
Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies.Thomson was active in financial services, healthcare sectors, law, science & technology research, and tax & accounting sectors...
and inherited the baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
ial title becoming the 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1964 for the newspaper magnate Roy Thomson...
. 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 bothered to take up his right to a seat in the pre-1999 House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall
Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall located at 60 Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian...
, one of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's main concert halls, is named in his honour as the Thomson family donated $5.4 million to its construction.
Thomson died in London and a plaque was placed in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
.