View source for Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet

{{short description|Canadian newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur}}
{{redirect|Roy Thomson|the Scottish politician|Roy Hendry Thomson|similarly named people|Roy Thompson (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Lord Thomson of Fleet
| honorific-suffix    = [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire|GBE]]
| image               = Roy Thomson Cropped.jpg
| image_size          = 
| caption             = Thomson in 1945
| birth_name          = Roy Herbert Thomson
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1894|6|5}}
| birth_place         = [[Toronto, Ontario]], Canada
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1976|8|4|1894|6|5}}
| death_place         = [[London]], England
| resting_place       = Toronto<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/05/archives/lord-thomson-dies-built-press-empire-lord-thomson-of-fleet-a.html|title=Lord Thomson dies built press empire - Lord Thomson of Fleet|date=August 5, 1976|website=The New York Times}}</ref>
| known_for           = Established radio station [[CKFX-FM|CFCH]] (1931), acquired [[Timmins Daily Press]] (1934), successful newspaper and other media entrepreneur
| spouse              = {{Marriage|Edna Annis Irvine|1916|1951|end=died}}
| children            = 3, including [[Kenneth Roy Thomson|Kenneth]]
}}
'''Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|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]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roy-Herbert-Thomson-1st-Baron-Thomson|title=Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson {{!}} British publisher|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2017-07-10|language=en}}</ref>

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 (TV network)|ITV]] franchise in Scotland, the [[Scottish Television]], today known as [[STV (TV channel)|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 Newspapers]] which published ''[[The Sunday Times]]'';<ref>{{cite book|title=After I Was Sixty |author=Lord Thomson of Fleet |date= 1975|location=[[Don Mills]], Ontario|isbn=978-0-17-605008-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/afteriwassixtych00royh}}</ref> both of these are nowadays owned by [[News UK]], a division of [[News Corp]].

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

==Career==
During [[World War I]], Roy Thomson attended a [[business college]], and owing to bad eyesight, avoided [[Military_Service_Act,_1917|conscription]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} 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 a stroke of luck, he was able to procure a radio frequency and transmitter for $201. [[CKFX-FM|CFCH]] officially went on the air in [[North Bay, Ontario]], on 3 March 1931. He sold radio receivers for  some time after that, but his focus gradually shifted to the radio station.

Thomson purchased the ''[[Timmins Daily Press]]'' 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]]. 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. 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 [[ITV (TV network)|commercial television]] franchise for Central Scotland, named [[Scottish Television]], basing it in the [[Theatre Royal, Glasgow]].<ref>″The Theatre Royal, Entertaining a Nation″ by Graeme Smith, published in 2008</ref> It became highly profitable, with Thomson describing it as a "licence to print money".<ref>{{cite web|date=5 July 2006|title=Kenneth Roy Thomson|url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/kenneth-roy-thomson/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625093153/http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/34783|archive-date=25 June 2013|access-date=29 March 2013|work=[[Press Gazette]]|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 1959, Thomson purchased the Kemsley group of newspapers, the largest in Britain, which included ''[[The Sunday Times (UK)|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]], [[printing]], [[television]], and [[travel]]. In 1966, Thomson bought ''[[The Times]]'' newspaper from members of the [[Astor family]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jun/13/guardianobituaries.media|title=Lord Thomson of Fleet|last=Goodman|first=Geoffrey|date=2006-06-12|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-07-10|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

In the 1970s, Thomson joined with [[J. Paul Getty]] in a [[consortium]] that successfully explored for [[Petroleum|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.

[[File:Toronto - ON - Roy Thomson Hall.jpg|thumb|right|[[Roy Thomson Hall]] in the downtown [[Toronto Entertainment District|Entertainment District]] is named after Roy Thomson.]]

== 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 E. Irving|John Irvine]] and Rebecca Caldwell.<ref name="Edna">{{cite web |url=http://www.glendinning.name/ancestry/thomsfam/pafg80.htm#2511 |title=Descendants of Adam THOMSON and Margaret CRANSTOUN |publisher=glendinning.name |access-date=October 5, 2018}}</ref> 
Thomson had three children: [[Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet|Kenneth Roy Thomson]] (1923–2006), Irma Jacqueline Thomson (b. 20 October 1918 - d. 1966) and Phyllis Audrey Thomson (b. 6 July 1917 - d. 2007).<ref name="Edna"/>

On 22 February 1951, Thomson's wife Edna died in [[Fort Lauderdale]], Florida.<ref name="Edna"/>

In 1952, Thomson moved to [[Edinburgh]].

As of 1964<ref>[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadas-rich-troubled-thomson-family Canadas rich troubled Thomson family] at [[The Canadian Encyclopedia]], accessed August 31, 2019</ref> and 1965, Thomson owned a residence near Port Credit, on Mississauga Road.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pub.canadiana.ca/view/omcn.TheWeekly24/67?r=0&s=6|title = The Weekly : June 10, 1965-March 31, 1966 - Public Collections}}</ref>

In 1976, Thomson died in London, England. A plaque was placed in the crypt of [[St Paul's Cathedral]].

After Thomson's death in 1976, his son Kenneth became chair of [[International Thomson Organization]] (including ownership of the Times) and later reorganised as the [[Thomson Corporation]].<ref name="m541">{{cite web | title=Factbox: A chronology of Thomson Reuters Corp | website=Reuters | date=2018-01-31 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/business/factbox-a-chronology-of-thomson-reuters-corp-idUSKBN1FK0E0/ | access-date=2025-09-08}}</ref> He also 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 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]] 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 ===
{{see|Family tree of Thomson family}}
Thomson's family continues to use the British hereditary title of [[Baron Thomson of Fleet]]. A select family tree is shown below:

<br/>
{{Tree chart/start|align=center}}
{{Tree chart||||Roy|~|y|~|Edna||Roy=Roy Thomson<br />
<small>1st Baron Thomson of Fleet<br />1894–1976<br />(Baron: 1964–1976)</small>
|Edna=Edna Annis Irvine <br />
<small>1895–1951</small>}}
{{Tree chart||10=-|16=.|15=-|14=-|13=-|12=v|11=-|9=-||8=)|7=|6=|5=|4=||17=}}
{{Tree chart|||Nora|y|Ken||Irma||Phyllis||Ken=[[Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet|Kenneth Thomson]] <br />
<small>2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet<br />1923–2006<br />(Baron: 1976–2006)</small>
|Nora=Nora Marilyn Lavis <br />
<small>1930–2017</small>
|Irma=Irma Jacqueline Thomson <br />
<small>1918–1966<ref>{{cite web |last1=Martin |first1=Sandra |title=A man of small economies and grand generosities |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-man-of-small-economies-and-grand-generosities/article1101012/ |work=The Globe and Mail |date=12 June 2006 |access-date=5 January 2021}}</ref> <br /> (m. Glenn W. Brydson)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/irma-jacqueline-thomson-24-1b3100 |website=www.ancestry.ca|title=Irma Jacqueline Thomson}}</ref></small>
|Phyllis=Phyllis Audrey Thomson <br />
<small>1917–2007<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/phyllis-audrey-thomson-24-8rydb2 |website=www.ancestry.ca|title=Phyllis Audrey Thomson}}</ref> <br /> (m. Clarence E. Campbell)<ref>{{cite web|title= CAMPBELL, Phyllis Audrey (nee Thomson) |website=www.legacy.com|url=https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/phyllis-campbell-obituary?pid=189841949
}}</ref></small>}}
{{Tree chart||,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.|||}}
{{Tree chart|David||Taylor||Peter||||David=[[David Thomson, 3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet|David Thomson]] <br />
<small>3rd Baron Thomson of Fleet<br />b. 1957<br />(Baron: 2006–present)</small>
|Taylor=Taylor Lynne Thomson<ref>{{cite web |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/vgTBf5Y5wpTizcBUov9NHsZZ5TE/appointments |title=Taylor Lynne THOMSON |work=Companies House |access-date=28 September 2022}}</ref> <br />
<small>b. 1959</small>
|Peter=[[Peter Thomson (racing driver)|Peter Thomson]] <br />
<small>b. 1965</small>}}
{{Tree chart/end}}

==Honours==
In the [[1964 New Year Honours]], it was announced that Thomson would be elevated to the [[peerage]] as a [[Baron]] "for public services".<ref name="LG 31 December 1963">{{London Gazette |issue=43200 |date=31 December 1963 |page=1 |supp=y}}</ref> On 10 March 1964 he was made [[Baron Thomson of Fleet]], of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh.<ref name="LG 10 March 1964">{{London Gazette |issue=43267 |date=10 March 1964 |page=2189 }}</ref> 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]].<ref name="LG 30 December 1969">{{London Gazette|issue=44999|date=1 January 1970|page=8|supp=y}}</ref>

In 1972, he received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business}}</ref>

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Arms of Thomson, Baron Thomson of Fleet.svg|centre|200px]]
|escutcheon = Argent a stag's head cabossed Proper on a chief azure between two mullets a hunting-horn of the first stringed Gules.
|crest = A beaver sejant erect Proper blowing upon a hunting-horn Argent slung over his dexter shoulder by a riband of the dress tartan Proper to Thomson of that Ilk and his dependers.
|supporters = Dexter a Mississauga Indian habited in the proper costume of his tribe holding in his dexter hand a bow all Proper; sinister a shepherd bearing in his sinister hand a shepherd's crook on his head a bonnet all Proper and wearing a kilt of the usual tartan Proper to Thomson of that Ilk and his dependers.
|motto = Never A Backward Step <ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2000}}</ref>}}

==See also==
* [[Canadian peers and baronets]]
* [[Cash for Honours#Previous instances|Cash for Honours]]
* [[Thomson Corporation]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Braddon, Russell. ''Roy Thomson of Fleet Street'' (London: Collins, 1965)
* Goldenberg, Susan. ''The Thomson Empire'' (Kampmann & Co, 1984)

==External links==
* [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=722312005 The men who made The Scotsman: Part two]
* [http://robertsewell.tripod.com/lordthomson.html Lord Thomson of Fleet]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050405063406/http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/index2.html Canadian Communications Foundation]
* [https://www.nfb.ca/film/never_a_backward_step/ ''Never a Backward Step''], a 1966 National Film Board of Canada documentary on Thompson (requires [[Adobe Flash]])

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|uk}}
{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Baron Thomson of Fleet]]| years=1964–1976 }}
{{s-aft| after=[[Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet|Kenneth Roy Thomson]] }}
{{s-aca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Esmond Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere|The Rt. Hon. Viscount Rothermere]]}} 
{{s-ttl|title=Chancellor of [[Memorial University of Newfoundland]]
 |years=1961–1968}}
{{s-aft|after=[[George Alain Frecker|G. Alain Frecker]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Roy Herbert}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:Barons Thomson of Fleet|1]]
[[Category:British businesspeople in tourism]]
[[Category:Canadian mass media company founders]]
[[Category:Canadian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Chancellors of Memorial University of Newfoundland]]
[[Category:Canadian peers]]
[[Category:Canadian socialites]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1953 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Old Toronto]]
[[Category:Thomson family|Roy]]
[[Category:Gardiner family]]
[[Category:Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II]]