Allied Newspapers


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

History

Background

The Berry brothers entered the newspaper business in 1915, purchasing The Sunday Times; they also purchased the Financial Times in 1919. In 1922, Gomer Berry bought the Scottish Daily Record, its sister paper the Sunday Mail, and another newspaper, the Glasgow Evening News, for £1 million. He formed a controlling company known as Associated Scottish Newspapers Ltd.
For his part, Edward Iliffe was already president and principal proprietor of the Birmingham Post and the Birmingham Mail, and owner of the Coventry Evening Telegraph and the Cambridge Daily News.

Formation

The Berry brothers and Iliffe set up Allied Newspapers in 1924 for the purpose of purchasing the former properties of newspaper proprietor Edward Hulton. Allied Newspapers' initial acquisitions included the Daily Dispatch, the Manchester Evening Chronicle, the Sunday Chronicle, and the Sunday Graphic, as well as a string of other newspapers across the country. In Cardiff, Wales, the consortium quickly merged four other papers into the Western Mail.
Allied Newspapers' headquarters was located at Withy Grove, The Printworks. The Berry Brothers were co-chairmen and Iliff was deputy chairman of the group. The company's northern newspapers were part of the subsidiary Allied Northern Newspapers.
Allied Newspapers acquired the Daily Sketch from Lords Beaverbrook and Rothmere in 1925; in 1926, the Daily Sketch absorbed the Daily Graphic. The Daily Sketch became part of an Allied Newspapers subsidiary in 1928.

Growth

In 1926, Allied Newspapers purchased Amalgamated Press, adding a thriving story paper, comic book, and book publishing company to their empire.
In 1927, Allied Newspapers bought the paper-making operations of Frank Lloyd, the son of publisher Edward Lloyd; Allied sold the business to Bowater in 1936.
In 1927 Allied Newspapers purchased The Daily Telegraph from the 2nd Harry Levy-Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham, with Camrose becoming its editor-in-chief. In 1937 the consortium purchased The Telegraph's rival, The Morning Post. Camrose concentrated his efforts on The Daily Telegraph, buying out his partners and merging The Morning Post into The Daily Telegraph. His son Seymour served as Deputy Chairman of The Daily Telegraph from 1939 to 1986. His other son Michael also served as Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph newspapers.
In addition, Seymour Berry served as Vice Chairman of Amalgamated Press from 1942 to 1959.

Kemsley Newspapers

With Lord Camrose concentrating on The Daily Telegraph, Allied Newspapers was dissolved in 1945 and renamed Kemsley Newspapers, with Gomer Berry in charge. Meanwhile, Camrose retained Amalgamated Press.
From 1945 until the group was sold in 1959, author Ian Fleming served as Kemsley Newspapers' foreign manager, overseeing The Sunday Times' worldwide network of correspondents.
Lord Kemsley served as chairman of the Reuters News Agency from 1951 to 1958.
In 1952 Kemsley sold the Daily Sketch to Esmond Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere, and Associated Newspapers, the owner of the Daily Mail. At that point, Lord Kemsley owned 31 newspapers across the U.K, though most were small regional papers.
Kemsley sold his Scottish holdings — the Daily Record, the Sunday Mail and Evening News — to the London-based Mirror Group in 1955.

Purchase by Roy Thomson

By 1959, Kemsley Newspapers was considered the largest newspaper group in Britain. At that point, it was acquired by
Thomson Regional Newspapers, owned by Roy Thomson. 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.
Amalgamated Press, meanwhile, was bought by the Mirror Group in 1959 and renamed Fleetway Publications.

Allied/Kemsley newspaper holdings

  • Bristol Times and Mirror
  • Daily Record
  • Daily Sketch/''Daily Graphic
  • The Daily Telegraph
  • Empire News
  • Financial Times
  • Glasgow Evening News
  • Manchester Evening Chronicle
  • The Morning Post
  • Sunday Chronicle
  • Sunday Graphic
  • Sunday Mail
  • Sunday News
  • The Sunday Times
  • Western Mail''