Harry Henry

Who was Harry Henry?

Harry Henry was born in London on 11 March 1916, as the elder son of an accountant, who died in 1924. His mother brought up and provided for her two sons by working as a dressmaker. Henry was one of Britain's market research pioneers whose contributions to its acceptance and understanding won him an international reputation. He was the last survivor of the 23 founders of the Market Research Society, which he helped establish in 1947, and which now has 8,000 members in 50 countries. He married Mary Anstey, daughter of Vera Anstey, in 1938. She died in 1989, a year after they had celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.

In publishing, he was Marketing Director of the Thomson Organisation for nine years, where he also became a Deputy Managing Director. His influence was significant in pulling an old-fashioned conservative industry towards the appreciation and practice of marketing in newspapers and magazines, a benefit inherited by radio and television. He was the first to use the computer in a market research study. In 1988, he received the Market Research Society's rarely awarded Gold Medal. In 2004, he received the Advertising Association's prestigious Mackintosh Medal, awarded for outstanding personal and public service to the industry.