| Relationship to me: | Grandfather | Gen -2 | ![]() Walter Ernest Newman |
| Born: | 1864 at Woodwick, Kent* | ||
| Died: | 1947 | ||
| Age | 83 | ||
| Father: | Walter Newman | 1836 - 1894 | |
| Mother: | Emma Montague Browne | 1844 -1930 | |
| Brothers: | (elder) Edwin M. B. Newman | 1861 -1885 | |
| Sisters: | (younger) Evelyn Newman | 1870 - 1950 | |
| Married: | Lilian Jekyll (née) Paynter | m.1898 | |
| Children: | Harold Ernest Montague Newman | 1900 - 1991 | |
| Aline Lilian Newman | 1907 - 1978 | ||
| * Walter's birthplace was given to me by Ray Farnsworth (Freelands) who quotes from the 1881 Alnwick census which "shows Walter Ernest Newman living at Freelands and that he was an Articled Clerk. His age is recorded as 17 and his birthplace as Woodwick, Kent". | |||
Outline his Life: Walter Ernest was the second and last son of Walter "the Gunner", whose financial problems severely affected his son's early life and subsequent career. Walter followed his elder brother Edwin Montague Browne to Wellington but because of financial constraints Walter's Wellington education was cut short, and he was prevented from pursuing the military career that he had wanted. As my father explained it to me: "Walter (the gunner) could not afford to educate his two sons, Edwin and Walter, at Wellington College. Edwin qualified for Woolwich and became a Sapper, but my father aiming at a similar career, was prevented from doing so because great-grandfather Edwin who had stumped up their school fees suffered a severe financial blow in 1880 due to his head-clerk making off with the firm's funds, so that my father's school career was summarily curtailed. To qualify him for a career, he was articled to Henry Paynter's office in Alnwick where he fell for Lily. I know nothing about dates but guess there must have been a gap between Wellington and his move north in order to account for his unsuccessful wooing of the Miss Youle (spelling?) I mentioned in my Reminiscences. Anyhow, his articles completed, he was posted to Gould's office in the Strand, and was taken into partnership at the turn of the century, when the firm became Newman Paynter Gould and Newman." The story of the family law firm for which Walter worked throughout his life is recorded on a separate page.
Another telling of the story by my father (from his Reminiscences) goes as follows: "Walter Ernest Newman married his first cousin, LiIian Jekyll Paynter, in Alnwick, Northumberland. She was the daughter, the fifth of twelve children, of Henry Augustus Paynter of Cornish extraction, and a partner in Newman Paynter & Co., Solicitors. The firm was founded by my great-grandfather, Edwin, the recipient of the black marble mantelpiece clock in Yeovil to which a London branch at 1 Clements Inn was added where my father later worked. It is said that my father had fallen for a Miss Yule (?) who rejected him, and that, articled to Henry Paynter to learn his trade, he had rebounded on Lily, Henry's favourite and somewhat spoiled daughter. Anyway they were engaged for nearly ten years till his salary sufficed for marriage, and after a postponement due to my "Gunner" grandfather's death in 1896 leaving debts which my father had to settle. These included debts incurred at whist in the Rag (Army and Navy Club), his nightly occupation, one consequence being that thereafter the handling of playing cards was heavily discouraged other than for patience."
I recall that my father was very fond his father who was apparently a warm-hearted good-humoured soul. How he coped with the strictly religeous (and humourless) wife that Lilian became I don't know, but the story has come to me (from Ian Caldwell, I think) that Walter maintained a long-standing friendship with an unknown lady in London who I hope gave him some solace.