At present I have only the 1984 recollections of my father to record the history of the law firm established by my great great grandfather Edwin Newman and his partner Francis Paynter. I don't know when the partnership was formed, nor who was the senior partner, but I have always assumed that Edwin was the senior because his name appears first in the name of the firm. Why that should have been so is a mystery, because Francis was some 14 years older than Edwin. My guess is that the firm was founded around 1834, when it seems that Edwin moved Hendford Manor in Yeovil, which became the headquarters of the firm. However it seems that Francis Paynter never left Cornwall, so presumably he ran a separate office there.

At some stage (I guess around 1850), a London branch of the firm was established at 1 Clements Inn by a Mr Gould, when the firm became Newman Paynter & Gould. My guess of 1850 is based on a note in the 1851 Yeovil census which records that Edwin Newman (or perhaps his eldest son Edwin, then an articled clerk aged 21), was "Now of the Temple, London". Prior to this (in 1849) Francis Paynter had been bankrupted, however according to Ian Caldwell (see message dated 3rd Feb 2005) he continued to practice as a lawyer.

In 1866 or early 1867, Francis's fourth son Henry Augustus Paynter (then a young man, 20 or 21 years old) must have moved to Alwick in the far north of England to take up work with a local law firm owned by a Mr Foster. In April 1868 he married Edwin's only daughter Henrietta, whereafter the couple settled in Alnwick and spent the rest of their married life there. Henry became a partner in his law firm which thence became Foster and Paynter, and was located in the town cenre. According to my father, the firm was effectively an Alnwick branch of the family firm, but Ray Farnsworth (who now lives in Henry and Henrietta's old house) is of the view that the firm was independent of the Newman Paynter firm in Yeovil, which seems more likely.

In 1876, Edwin married Catherine Paynter, his partner's widow, thereby making his son-in-law Henry Paynter and his four surviving brothers, his step-sons!

My father records that his grandfather Walter Newman was "impecunious" despite his successful military career. Hence Edwin had paid for the school fees of his two sons Edwin Montague Browne Newman and Walter Ernest Newman. However Edwin's firm suffered a "severe financial blow in 1880 due to his head-clerk making off with the firm's funds, so that the young Walter'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 in love with Lily. When his articles were 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".

My father used to tell me that Edwin retired from the firm in 1876 when he was presented with a mantlepiece clock, given to him by a grateful client. However the inscription on the clock does not mention his retirement; it says simply: "Presented to Edwin Newman Esq of Yeovil by the Four Sons of the Late John Valentine of Somerton in remembrance of much kindness shown to their father. NOVEMBER 1876" (see pictures). The clock itself is dated 1746. The 1881 census describes Edwin as "Solicitor", so he may still have been working then. It also seems likely that he was dependent on the firm in 1880 if the theft of the firm's funds had been a financial blow to him.

At the time of Edwin's death in 1885, Henry's youngest brother Bernard Paynter had become a partner in the firm. Walter (the gunner), Henry and Bernard were executors of Edwin's will, and shortly afterwards Bernard took over Hendford Manor, presumably having purchased it from Edwin's estate. My guess is that even though he was only 32 years old at that time of Edwin's death, he was already the senior partner.

According to my father, "the Alnwick branch collapsed on Henry Paynter's death in 1919 (Ray Farnsworth may have a different story). Then probably in the early '20's Gould retired leaving Walter Earnest Newman in charge of the London office. In the early '30s Walter selected a young lawyer named Woolmer for partnership, retiring himself in 1937, aged 73. Woolmer was called up in WW2 when the Clements Inn office was abandoned, and the branch was absorbed into Messrs Denton, Hill & Burgin, now of Chancery Lane. When Bernard Paynter died in 1927, his partner Lovegrove, carried on in Yeovil abandoning Hendford Manor. Now (1984) he has retired and his business taken over by another Yeovil firm Mayo & Co., making Newman Paynter & Co defunct".

Updates:
11 Jul 2005: minor wording changes, links and photos added.
2nd Feb 05 - link to 1851 census added; clarification relating to the note: "now of the Temple, London"