Neville Arthur Pearson was born on 13 February 1898 in Frensham, Surrey, England.

He was the son of the British newspaper magnate to Sir C. Arthur and Ethel Maud (Fraser) Pearson

Ethel Pearson

Ethel Maud, Lady Pearson, DBE , née Ethel Maud Fraser, was a British humanitarian.On 3 June 1897, she married, as his second wife, the publisher Arthur Pearson, who was created a baronet in 1916. She became heavily involved in St Dunstan's Hostel for the Blind, the home for blinded soldiers that...

. His father, who was blind and a journalist, died in 1921. 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

Stevie Smith

Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith was an English poet and novelist.-Life:Stevie Smith, born Florence Margaret Smith in Kingston upon Hull, was the second daughter of Ethel and Charles Smith. Contemporary Women Poets...

.

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

Gladys Cooper

Dame Gladys Constance Cooper, DBE was an English actress whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television....

, but divorced her in 1936.

Sir Neville A Pearson, named 2nd Baronet Pearson on 9 December 1921, succeeded in 1947 his mother as president of St Dunstan's Hostel for the Blind, the home for blinded soldiers from World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

that his father, who was blind himself, had founded in 1915.

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