Stafford William Somerfield (9 January 1911–14 January 1995)Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 872 was a British

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

Early life

Born in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

to Albert George Somerfield and Bessie (née Rivett), Somerfield worked at the ''

Express and Echo The ''Express & Echo'' is a paid-for newspaper for Exeter, England and the surrounding area. History The ''Express & Echo'' was established in 1904 as the result of a merger between the ''Western Echo'' and the ''Devon Evening Express'', which ...

'', then moved to London as a journalist on the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' and the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the '' Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 b ...

''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served with the Gloucestershire Regiment, rising to become a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. Bernard Shrimsley, "Blood-lust of a newshound", ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 16 January 1995

Newspaper career

When the war ended, Somerfield joined the ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...

'', and in 1960, he was appointed as its editor. He prioritised shocking stories and printed explicit details of

Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a Bombshell (slang), blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van ...

and

Christine Keeler Christine Margaret Keeler (22 February 1942 – 4 December 2017) was an English model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the Cold War (1953–1962), height of the ...

's lives. He often fell into conflict with the Press Council, particularly after paying David Smith, chief prosecution witness in the

Moors murders The Moors murders were a serial killer, series of child murder, child killings committed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in and around Manchester, England, between July 1963 and October 1965. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Ki ...

case, on condition that the suspects were convicted. In common with the Carr family, Somerfield vociferously opposed

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...

's attempt to take over the ''News of the World''Roy Greenslad
''Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits From Propaganda''
London: Pan, 2004 003 p. 395 and wrote a front-page leading article in October 1968 on the subject, which led to extensive criticism that his attitude was

xenophobic Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

. He objected to

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

's eventual purchase of a majority of the title's stock from the Carrs a few months later. He was asked to resign in February 1970 by Murdoch, now chairman of the company, and reportedly took an offer of £100,000 to leave.

Later life

In retirement, he became a judge at

Crufts Crufts is an international dog show held annually in the United Kingdom, held since 1891, and organised by The Kennel Club. It is the largest show of its kind in the world. Crufts is primarily a championship conformation show for dogs, and ...

and wrote columns on dog-related matters. He also wrote three books: the first was in 1950 after interviewing John George Haigh, the convicted murderer known as the 'Acid bath murderer'; then in 1979 he penned a story about his Fleet Street memories; and finally in 1985, a book about the Boxer, a breed he had an in-depth interest in. He was chairman of Dog World. Married first, 1934: Gertrude Frances Camfield, by whom he had two daughters. Divorced 1950. Married second, 1951, Elizabeth Egerton, daughter of Lt-Col Arthur Egerton Cotton, DSO, of the Rifle Brigade, a descendant of Sir Lynch Cotton, 4th Baronet, of Rev. Sir Philip Grey Egerton, 9th Baronet, and of Josias Du Pre, a director of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

and Governor of Madras from 1770 to 1773.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, vol. 1, p. 872, vol. 2, p. 1679 Elizabeth Somerfield's first husband, Francis Montgomery, was son of the politician and lawyer Robert Mortimer Montgomery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somerfield, Stafford 1911 births 1995 deaths British Army personnel of World War II English newspaper editors English male journalists Gloucestershire Regiment officers News of the World people