Francis James Newton

Sir Francis James Newton KCMG CVO (1857–1948) was a senior colonial administrator in different parts of the British Empire, principally in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

Sir

Francis James Newton

KCMG CVO
Resident Commissioner of Bechuanaland
In office
1895–1897
MonarchVictoria
Preceded bySidney Shippard
Succeeded byHamilton Goold-Adams
Colonial Secretary of Barbados
In office
1901–1902
Monarch
Preceded bySir Ralph Champneys Williams
Succeeded bySir Samuel Knaggs
Personal details
Born1857
Saint Croix, Danish West Indies
Died8 May 1948(1948-05-08) (aged 90–91)
Bindura, Southern Rhodesia
NationalityBritish
Spouse(s)
Henrietta Joanna Strachey Cloete
​
​
(m. 1889)​
Relatives
EducationRugby School
Alma materUniversity College, Oxford
Occupation
  • Barrister
  • colonial administrator

Early life

He was the son of Francis Rodes Newton (1827–1886), an English planter from Elveden Hall in Suffolk, and his Danish wife Anna Louisa (1833–1862), daughter of Major Jacob Heitmann Gyllich, Knight of the Dannebrog, and his wife Adrianna Louise von Meley. His English grandfather was William Newton MP, while among his uncles were the scientist Alfred Newton, the colonial administrator Sir Edward Newton and the Army officer General Sir William Samuel Newton.

Career

After graduating with an MA, he worked in the Cape Colony, first as private secretary to the Prime Minister, Thomas Charles Scanlen, and then as aide-de-camp and private secretary to the Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson. Adding a legal qualification to his skills, he became a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1890.[1]

In 1892 he was appointed Colonial Secretary and Receiver General of British Bechuanaland, followed in 1895 by the post of Resident Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana, but after the Jameson Raid was dismissed[2] In 1898 he received the post of Colonial Secretary of British Honduras, now Belize, after which, staying in the Caribbean, in 1901 he became Colonial Secretary of Barbados. Returning to Southern Africa, he was nominated to the Legislative Council of Southern Rhodesia in 1903 and appointed Treasurer. For a spell in 1914 he was Acting Administrator of Southern Rhodesia. In 1923 he was appointed Colonial Secretary of Southern Rhodesia and in the 1924 election to the Assembly came top of the poll for the constituency of Mazoe (as it was then spelled). However he resigned on 26 August 1924 on appointment as High Commissioner of Southern Rhodesia to the United Kingdom, a post he held until he was succeeded by John Wallace Downie in 1930.

Honours

In the 1892 New Year Honours he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, followed in 1911 by distinction as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and finally in 1919 the award of a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.[3]

Family

In 1889 in the Cape Colony he married Henrietta, the daughter of Daniel Cloete, an Afrikaner brewer who sat on the Legislative Council.[4] Her sister Anna Evangeline was the wife of Major-General Sir Edward Northey.[5] Their only child to reach adulthood, Charles Hercules Francis Augustus Newton, an officer in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, was killed in action in Belgium in 1916.[6]

In Southern Rhodesia he owned the Pimento Park plantation at Mazowe, which was inherited by his great-nephew Oliver Newton. He died in the hospital at Bindura and his will was proved in London on 22 September 1948.[7]

Portraits

Portraits of Francis[8] and of Henrietta[9] are in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

References
  1. »Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes 1929 », Kelly's Directories Ltd, London, 1929
  2. Schreuder & Butler « Sir Graham Bower's Secret History of the Jameson Raid» https://books.google.co.uk retrieved 17 October 2015
  3. Supplement To The London Gazette, 1 January 1919, p108 «  Chancery of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Downing Street, 1st January, 1919. The King has been graciously pleased to give directions for the following promotions in and appointments to the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George: — To be …. Knights Commanders of the said Most Distinguished Order:— Francis James Newton, Esq., C.M.G., C.V.O., Treasurer of Southern Rhodesia.
  4. "South Africa, Church of the Province of South Africa, Parish Registers, 1801-2004", database with images, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVS4-54Y3 Francis James Newton, retrieved 19 October 2015
  5. George, John « The Descendants of Count Jacob van Reenen » https://books.google.co.uk retrieved 19 October 2015
  6. "Lieutenant Charles Hercules Francis Augustus NEWTON. The King's Royal Rifle Corps. | The National Archives". Discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  7. Principal Probate Registry « Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England » London, England © Crown copyright » at Ancestry.com (subscription required) retrieved 15 October 2015
  8. "Sir Francis James Newton - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk.
  9. "Henrietta S. (née Cloete), Lady Newton - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk.
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