Esmond Cecil Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere was a British Conservative politician and press magnate.
Background
Harmsworth was the son of Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, who had founded the Daily Mail in partnership with his brother Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe. As his father dabbled in association with the Nazis and a flirtation with becoming King of Hungary, it fell to Harmsworth to manage the businesses.
Education
He was educated at Eton College and commissioned into the Royal Marine Artillery in World War I. His two older brothers were both killed in action.
Career
Esmond served as Aide-de-Camp to the Prime Minister at the Paris Peace Conference. He served until 1929. After 1922, the Daily Mail and General Trust company was created to control the newspapers that Lord Rothermere retained after Lord Northcliffe"s death (The Times, for example, was sold).
He was the chairman of Associated Newspapers from 1932 to 1971, after which he assumed the titles of President and Director of Group Finance, and chairman of Daily Mail & General Trust Limited, the parent company, from 1938 until his death.
Harmsworth also had a significant impact on the development of Memorial University of Newfoundland (the family has had a long-standing interest in Newfoundland, having built a paper mill in Grand Falls before the outbreak of the first world war). The University"s first residence in Paton College, known as Rothermere House, is named after the Viscount.
Harmsworth was the first Chancellor of Memorial University and the benefactor who provided the funds to construct Rothermere House.
Membership
31st United Kingdom Parliament. 32nd United Kingdom Parliament. 33rd United Kingdom Parliament.
34th United Kingdom Parliament]
In 1919, he was elected as a Unionist Member of Parliament for the Isle of Thanet, one of the youngest MPs ever.