Lord Kemsley

(James) Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley GBE (7 May 1883 – 6 February 1968), was a Welsh colliery owner and newspaper publisher.

Berry was born the son of John Mathias and Mary Ann (née Rowe) Berry, of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. He was the younger brother of Henry Berry, 1st Baron Buckland, an industrialist, and William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, a fellow press lord.

Berry originally co-owned The Daily Telegraph with his second brother Lord Camrose, and Lord Burnham. He founded Kemsley Newspapers, which owned The Sunday Times, The Daily Sketch and The Sunday Graphic amongst its titles.

Berry was chairman of the Reuters News Agency from 1951 to 1958.

In 1954 Berry was part of the Kemsley-Winnick consortium, which won the initial ITV weekend contracts for the Midlands and the North of England. Berry had cold feet over the financial risk, and withdrew, causing the consortium to collapse.

In 1959 Kemsley Newspapers was bought by Lord Thomson, ironically enabled by Thomson's profits from Scottish Television.

Berry was created a baronet in 1928, and was appointed as an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in 1931. In 1936, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kemsley, of Farnham Royal in the County of Buckingham, and advanced to Viscount Kemsley, of Dropmore in the County of Buckingham, in 1945. In 1929 he was appointed High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire and in 1959, a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for "political and public service".

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