Bill, Lord Camrose (1879 -1954)

Bill, Lord Camrose original David Low caricature portrait artwork. 

Bill Berry started his working life as a journalist and established his own paper, Advertising World, in 1901. Berry made his fortune with the publication of the World War I magazine The War Illustrated, which at its peak had a circulation of 750,000. In partnership with his younger brother, he purchased The Sunday Times in 1915 and was its editor-in-chief until 1937. In 1919 the pair also purchased the Financial Times. In 1924, the Berry brothers purchased the Daily Dispatch, the Manchester Evening Chronicle, the Sunday Chronicle, the Sunday News, and the Sunday Graphic. In Cardiff they merged four newspapers into the Western Mail. In 1927 they purchased the Daily Telegraph, with William Berry becoming its editor-in-chief. In 1937 they purchased its rival, The Morning Post. Berry bought out his partners in 1937 and amalgamated the Morning Post with the Daily Telegraph, with himself as chairman and editor-in-chief. He provided financial assistance to Sir Winston Churchill after the Second World War. He and ten other wealthy well-wishers each donated £5,000 to the Churchills, allowing them to keep their home, Chartwell, on the condition that it would be presented to the nation upon their deaths.

William Ewart Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose (1879 – 1954)

Size 25cm x 45cm

Medium Pencil on paper

Publication The New Statesman

Published 1928