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, however Francis was some 14 years older than Edwin so perhaps they were equal partners and their names given in alphabetical order.

It is quite probable that Edwin founded his own law own around 1834,when (it seems) he moved to Hendford Manor in Yeovil which seems later to have been the main office of Newman Paynter & Co. However it is probable that the Newman-Paynter partnership was established much later, since Ian Caldwell in his "Story of Francis Paynter" records that the earliest connection that he can find between the two families is February 1856. Furthermore it appears that Francis Paynter never moved away from his base in Cornwall, so it must be presumed that he ran a separate office in Penzance.

It seems likely that the firm opened a London office in the 1850s because the 1851 census index for Yeovil shows Edwin to have been absent and shows the head of the household as "wife of Edwin Newman esq., solicitor, now of the Temple, London". [Note - it is possible that the words "now of the Temple, London" applied to Edwin's eldest son Edwin whose name appears on the following line. Edwion was then an articled clerk, but my deduction is that the note was added to explain his father's absense from Yeovil at the time of the census.]

By 1861 the younger Edwin Newman was married and living in Mayfair, and he remained in London for the rest of his life, retiring sometime before 1881. Hence it seems probable that he ran the London office of the firm during this period (although, of course, he may have set up an independent practice of his own).

Another of Edwin's sons, Charles Octavius Jekyll Newman, also lived in or near London and practiced as a solicitor. The 1901 census shows him employed as a solicitor and living in Belvedere (a South London suburb) so it seems likely that he was also a partner in the firm and thereby retained the Newman name in the firm after his brother Edwin's premature retirement.

In 1866 or early 1867, Francis's fourth son Henry Augustus Paynter (then a young man, 20 or 21 years old) 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 Newman married Catherine Paynter, his partner's widow, thereby making his son-in-law Henry Paynter and his four surviving brothers, his step-sons, one of whom (James Bernard) was to take over as leading partner in the firm after Edwin's retirement.

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. However the 1881 census describes Edwin as "Solicitor", so he may still have been working. In any case it seems likely that he retained a financial interest in 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 James Bernard were executors of Edwin's will, and shortly afterwards Bernard took over Hendford Manor, presumably having purchased it from Edwin's estate. My deduce that even though he was only 32 years old at that time of Edwin's death, he was already the senior partner.

At some stage the London branch of the firm moved to 1 Clements Inn about the same time that a Mr Gould joined, the name of the firm becoming Newman Paynter & Gould. Since Gould retired in the 1920s, it is likely that he opened the office around the turn of the century probably shortly before 1898 when abouts my grandfather Walter Ernest Newman joined the firm. If Chalres Octavius Newman was a partner at this time, it would account for the firm's name becoming "Newman, Paynter, Gould & Newman". Walter Newman remained in the London office throughout his career.

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 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:
12 Jun 2009: New ideas added about the London office of the firm
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"