{{Short description|British journalist (1908–1943)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=September 2016}} '''Kenneth Stonehouse''' (10 May 1908 – 1 June 1943) was a British journalist who worked with the Reuters news agency in the United States and Europe.<ref name=baron>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebaron.info/kennethstonehouse.html |title=Kenneth Stonehouse |work=The Baron |access-date=9 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303075557/http://www.thebaron.info/kennethstonehouse.html |archive-date=3 March 2012 }}</ref><ref name=oc1jun1943>{{cite news |title=3 British War Guests from Ottawa Missing on British Airliner |newspaper=Ottawa Citizen |date=3 June 1943 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19430603&id=AfouAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8tsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6488,571602 |access-date=9 February 2010}}</ref> He was killed in the downing of BOAC Flight 777.<ref name=baron/><ref name=oc1jun1943/><ref name=thetimes>{{cite news | title = The Times | pages = 7; col C | date = 4 June 1943 }}</ref><ref name=ff>{{cite web|url=http://www.newseum.org/scripts/Journalist/Detail.asp?PhotoID=744 |title=Kenneth Stonehouse |publisher=The Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial |access-date=9 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607233552/http://www.newseum.org/scripts/Journalist/Detail.asp?PhotoID=744 |archive-date= 7 June 2011 }}</ref>
==Life== Stonehouse was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1908. He began his career working for the ''Cape Times'' and then joined the staff of the South African Morning Newspapers in London. He then applied to work for Reuters, who assigned him to New York.<ref name=baron/>
Stonehouse was sent to Washington, D.C. as Reuters' senior correspondent, covering top stories, including British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's visit to the United States and Canada during the Second World War.<ref name=baron/><ref name=sem1943>{{cite news |title=Actor Leslie Howard Missing After Plan to England Disappears |newspaper=The Southeast Missourian |date=2 June 1943 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N-0oAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4NEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2852,1277077&dq=kenneth-stonehouse&hl=en |access-date=9 February 2010}}</ref>
Stonehouse and his wife are listed as passengers aboard the ''Cohner Brook'' which in November 1941 traveled from London to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada.<ref name=stonefmp1941>{{cite web |url=http://www.findmypast.co.uk/passengerListShowTranscript.action?uvn=1564000109&vsn=8 |title=Britain: outbound passenger lists 1890-1960 Mr Kenneth STONEHOUSE |website=Findmypast.co.uk |access-date=9 November 2013 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In the summer of 1943 Stonehouse had just completed an eighteen-month assignment in Washington, D.C. when he volunteered to become a war correspondent with the United States armed forces fighting in Europe.<ref name=baron/><ref name=thetimes/> In order to return to Europe, Stonehouse and his wife Evelyn on 12 May 1943 boarded the Portuguese liner S.S. ''Serpa Pinto'' in New York to sail to Portugal, a neutral state during the war. They arrived in Lisbon on 28 May and booked a flight to London. On 1 June 1943, Stonehouse, aged 35, and his wife Evelyn boarded BOAC Flight 777 to London; German fighter planes shot down the plane over the Bay of Biscay, killing all on board.<ref name=baron/><ref name=oc1jun1943/><ref name=thetimes/><ref name="ff"/><ref name=times603>"Nazis Hit Airliner; Leslie Howard Put Among 17 Missing." The New York Times 1943 3 June: p. 1. ''ProQuest Historical Newspapers''. ProQuest. Hennepin County Public Library, Edina. 2006 2 December.</ref><ref name=eps>{{cwgc|id=3168838|name=STONEHOUSE, EVELYN PEGGY|accessdate=9 November 2013}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stonehouse, Kenneth}} Category:1908 births Category:1943 deaths Category:British civilians killed in World War II Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in international waters Category:Journalists killed while covering World War II Category:British war correspondents of World War II Category:British reporters and correspondents Category:Victims of aircraft shootdowns Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1943 Category:South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:20th-century British male journalists