Michael Berry, Baron Hartwell

{{Short description|British newspaper proprietor and journalist (1911–2001)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Hartwell | honorific_suffix = MBE | office1 = Member of the House of Lords | status1 = Lord Temporal | term_label1 = Hereditary peerage | term_start1 = 15 February 1995 | term_end1 = 14 March 1995 (disclaimed) | predecessor1 = The 2nd Viscount Camrose | successor1 = Seat abolished | term_label2 = Life peerage | term_start2 = 19 January 1968 | term_end2 = 3 April 2001 | birth_date = 18 May 1911 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|2001|4|3|1911|5|18|df=y}} | death_place = | party = | spouse = {{marriage|Lady Pamela Smith|1936|1982|end=died}} | children = 4, including Adrian Berry, 4th Viscount Camrose | father = William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose | alma_mater = Eton College<br />Christ Church, Oxford }}

'''William Michael Berry, Baron Hartwell''' MBE (18 May 1911 – 3 April 2001), was a British newspaper proprietor and journalist.

==Early life and education== Berry was the second son of the 1st Viscount Camrose and his wife, Mary Agnes Corns. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.

==Career== Berry's father William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose and uncle Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley owned a string of newspapers through Allied Newspapers, which was dissolved in 1945 with Camrose taking the ''Daily Telegraph'' amongst others. Michael Berry edited the Glasgow ''Sunday Mail'' from 1934–35, and was managing editor of the ''Financial Times'' from 1937–39.

When Camrose died, Berry's older brother Seymour Berry, 2nd Viscount Camrose had taken to drink, and Michael unexpectedly became Editor-in-Chief of the ''Daily Telegraph''.<ref name="Cullen">Harriet Cullen: ''Lady Pamela Berry: Passion, Politics and Power''</ref> In 1961 Berry established the ''Sunday Telegraph'', which was not initially a financial success.

Berry did not focus on the financial side of the newspaper, and in spring 1985 the company needed to raise money. Berry sold 14% of the shares to Conrad Black, with an option to purchase more if the company needed to raise more money. It did, and Black took control in December 1985. Berry retired in September 1986.<ref name="Guardian obituary">{{Cite news |last=Baistow |first=Tom |date=2001-04-04 |title=Lord Hartwell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/apr/04/guardianobituaries2 |access-date=2026-05-16 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Berry was the initial backer behind the arts review ''X'' magazine.<ref>David Wright: "An anthology from ''X''" (1988), Introduction. {{ISBN|978-0192122667}}</ref>

Berry was awarded a life peerage as '''Baron Hartwell''', ''of Peterborough Court in the City of London'', on 19 January 1968.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=44507 |date=19 January 1968 |page=759}}</ref> He succeeded his elder brother as the 3rd Viscount Camrose in February 1995, but disclaimed the title.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=53981 |date=14 March 1995 |page=3955}}</ref>

==Marriage and family== Lord Hartwell married Lady Pamela Smith, daughter of F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead. They had four children together:

* Adrian Michael Berry, 4th Viscount Camrose (15 June 1937 – 18 April 2016) * Hon Nicholas William Berry (3 July 1942 – 25 December 2016) * Hon. Harriet Mary Margaret Berry (born 8 November 1944) * Hon. Eleanor Agnes Berry (born 6 May 1950)

==Death== Lord Hartwell died in Westminster, London,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp |title=Deaths England and Wales 1984-2006 |access-date=1 April 2009 |archive-date=4 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104084417/http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp |url-status=dead }}</ref> on 3 April 2001 at the age of 89. He was succeeded in the viscountcy, the Camrose barony and baronetcy by his elder son, Adrian. The Hartwell barony became extinct.

{{Infobox COA wide |escutcheon = Argent three bars Gules over all a pile Ermine. |crest = A griffin sejant reguardant Sable collared Or. |supporters = Dexter a stag, sinister a wolf, Proper both collared Or and standing on a compartment with a well between paving to the dexter and grass to the sinister Proper.<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=1973}}</ref>}}

==References== <references/>

==External links== *{{Hansard-contribs | mr-william-berry | Lord Hartwell }} *Deedes, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/75729 ‘Berry, (William) Michael, Baron Hartwell (1911–2001)’], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', online edn, Oxford University Press, Jan 2005; online edn, Oct 2005, accessed 11 Jan 2008

{{s-start}} {{s-reg|uk}} {{s-bef|before=Seymour Berry}} {{s-ttl|title=Viscount Camrose| years=1995}} {{s-vac|disclaimed|next=Adrian Berry}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartwell, Michael Berry, Baron}} Category:1911 births Category:2001 deaths Category:Crossbench life peers Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:20th-century British newspaper publishers (people) 3 Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Category:People educated at Eton College Category:City of London Yeomanry (Rough Riders) officers Michael Berry Category:Younger sons of viscounts Berry Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Camrose Category:20th-century British male journalists