Harold Sidney Harmsworth 1st Viscount Rothermere

Harold Sidney Harmsworth Rothermere, 1st Viscount , 1868-1940, English publisher. He was the financial wizard of the publishing firm headed by his brother Alfred, Viscount Northcliffe . In 1915 he founded the Sunday Pictorial and after his brother's death in 1922 gained control of the vast newspaper empire. He was created viscount in 1919. Though long friendly to Fascism and a proponent of appeasement in 1938, he wholeheartedly supported the British cause in World War II.

Harmsworth, Harold, 1st Viscount Rothermere (1868–1940). Newspaper proprietor. Younger brother of Alfred Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe, Harold eschewed the public limelight enjoyed by Alfred, but in 1917 accepted Lloyd George's invitation to take charge of the Air Ministry. Meanwhile he had increased the scope of his own newspaper proprietorship, producing the Sunday Pictorial, London's first Sunday picture newspaper, in 1915. Created baron (1914), he was advanced to viscount (1918). On his brother's death in 1922 Harold assumed control of Associated Newspapers, and used this opportunity to write forceful articles for the Daily Mail in praise of Hitler and Mussolini.

Harmsworth, Harold, 1st Viscount Rothermere (1868–1940). Newspaper proprietor. Younger brother of Alfred Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe. Harold Harmsworth accepted Alfred's offer to provide financial management for the publishing venture which eventually became the Amalgamated Press. Neither a journalist by profession nor a politician by inclination, Harold eschewed the public limelight enjoyed by Alfred, but in 1917 accepted Lloyd George's invitation to take charge of the Air Ministry. Meanwhile he had increased the scope of his own newspaper proprietorship, producing the Sunday Pictorial, London's first Sunday picture newspaper, in 1915. Created baron (1914), he was advanced to viscount (1918). On his brother's death in 1922 Harold assumed control of Associated Newspapers, and used this opportunity to write forceful articles for the Daily Mail in praise of Hitler and Mussolini; he was initially sympathetic to the British Union of Fascists, and used the Daily Mail in an ill-judged and unsuccessful campaign (1930) against Stanley Baldwin on the issue of empire free trade.

Geoffrey Alderman