Harold Creighton

{{Short description|British businessman}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Harold Digby Fitzgerald Creighton

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|09|11|df=yes}}

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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|06|03|1927|09|11|df=yes}}

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| nationality = British

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| occupation = Industrialist, magazine proprietor

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| known_for = Proprietor and editor of The Spectator

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| spouse = Harriet Wallace

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| children = Four

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| module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes

| allegiance = {{Flag|United Kingdom}}

| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}

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| rank =2nd lieutenant

| unit =Royal Armoured Corps

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Harold Digby Fitzgerald Creighton (11 September 1927 – 3 July 2003) was a British businessman and machine tool pioneer, who bought The Spectator magazine in 1967 for £75,000.{{Cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1151035.ece|title=Harold Creighton Obituary|work=The Times|date=July 14, 2003|access-date=January 17, 2011}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

In 1947, he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant{{London Gazette|issue=38130|page=5576|date=21 November 1936}} in the Royal Armoured Corps and served in Egypt and the Far East. After completing his National Service, he joined a tin-smelting business in Malaya (now known as Malaysia) and returned to Britain, where he eventually became Chairman of the Scottish Machine Tool Corporation of Glasgow.

In 1967, bought The Spectator, a politically conservative, weekly magazine. In 1973, he took over as editor although he had no prior experience as a journalist, after sacking the incumbent editor, George Gale. He edited the magazine until 1975, when he sold it for £75,000 to Henry Keswick. During his tenure, the magazine fervently opposed British entry into the European Economic Community.{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1435493/Harold-Creighton.html|title=Harold Creighton Obituary|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|date=July 8, 2003|access-date=January 17, 2011}}