British Conservative politician (1925–1984)
Sir Anthony George Berry (12 February 1925 – 12 October 1984)[1] was a British Conservative politician. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield Southgate and a whip in Margaret Thatcher's government.
Berry served as an MP for twenty years and was still in office when killed in the Brighton hotel bombing of 1984 by the Provisional IRA.
Early life
Born in Eton, Buckinghamshire, Berry was the sixth and youngest son of the newspaper magnate Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, and his wife Mary Holmes. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating MA, and served as a Lieutenant in the Welsh Guards from 1943 to 1947.[2]
Career
After resigning his commission in the Guards, Berry went into journalism. He was an Assistant Editor of the Sunday Times from 1952 to 1954, when he was appointed as Editor of the Sunday Chronicle.[2]
In 1962, Berry was appointed as High Sheriff of Glamorgan.[3]
Standing as a Conservative, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Southgate (later Enfield Southgate) at the 1964 general election,[1] and served in Margaret Thatcher's government after the Conservatives won the 1979 general election. He was Vice-Chamberlain of the Household between 1979 and 1981, then as Comptroller of the Household from 1981 to 1983, and was appointed Treasurer of the Household in 1983. He was knighted in December 1983.[4] At the time of his death he was Deputy Chief Whip in Thatcher's government.[5]
Death
On 12 October 1984, Berry was murdered in the Brighton hotel bombing, when a bomb was planted in the Grand Brighton Hotel during the Conservative Party Conference. He was 59.[6] He was survived by his wife, Lady Berry, who was injured in the blast.[5] His death occurred three days before the 20th anniversary of his first election to Parliament in 1964.
Berry's death in office triggered a by-election in Enfield Southgate, which was won by future Cabinet minister Michael Portillo.
In September 1986, Patrick Magee, who carried out the bombing, received eight life sentences, but was released from prison in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.[7][8]
Since Magee's release, Berry's daughter, Jo Berry, has received attention for her series of controversial meetings with the Brighton bomber, as part of her quest to come to terms with the bombing and, in her own words, "to bring something positive out of it". Some of their discussions were filmed for an Everyman programme, shown on BBC Two in December 2001. She has received some criticism from other families of IRA victims for these meetings.[6][9]
A ceremony was held in Berry's Enfield Southgate constituency on 12 October 2009, the 25th anniversary of the bombing, at which his widow (wife of Lord Donoughue) and her daughter Sasha unveiled a plaque in his honour at the newly renamed Sir Anthony Berry House in Chaseville Parade, Winchmore Hill.[5]
Personal life
In 1954, at Westminster, Berry married firstly Mary Cynthia Roche (1934–2023), a daughter of Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy.[2] Mary's sister, Frances Shand Kydd, married John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, and so Berry was an uncle of Diana, Princess of Wales.[10]
Berry and his wife Mary had four children: Alexandra Mary (born 1955), Antonia Ruth and Joanna Cynthia (Jo) (twins, born 1957), and Edward Anthony Morys (born 1960). They divorced in 1966.[2]
He then married Sarah Clifford-Turner at Chelsea in 1966 and had two more children: George (born 1967), and Sasha Jane (born 1969).[2]
Shortly before his death, Berry was being prosecuted for drink-driving and reckless driving after he allegedly drove at two police officers who were attempting to stop his vehicle, injuring one of them. He narrowly missed two pedestrians.[11]
References
