Sir Neville Pearson, 2nd Baronet

Who was Sir Neville Pearson, 2nd Baronet?

Sir Neville Arthur Pearson, 2nd Baronet.

Born in Frensham, Surrey, he was the son of the British newspaper magnate Sir C. Arthur and Ethel Maud Pearson. His father, who was blind and a journalist, died in 1921, whereupon he succeeded to the baronetage as 2nd Baronet Pearson. He succeeded his father as publisher of a number of magazines. From 1923 to 1953 his private secretary at the Newnes Publishing Company in London was the British poet and novelist Stevie Smith.

He was married in 1922 to Hon. Mary Angela Mond, daughter of the Minister of Health Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett. In 1927 he married the actress Gladys Cooper, but divorced her in 1936.

In 1947 he succeeded his mother as president of St Dunstan's Hostel for the Blind, the home for blinded soldiers from World War I which his father, who was blind himself, had founded in 1915.

He died on 6 November 1982, aged 84. On his death, the baronetage became extinct.