Frank Newnes

British publisher, businessman and Liberal politician

Sir

Frank Newnes

2nd Baronet

Sir Frank Newnes, 2nd Baronet

Member of Parliament,  Bassetlaw
In office
1906 – January 1910
Preceded by| Frederick Milner
Succeeded by| Ellis Hume-Williams
Personal details
Born| (1876-09-27)27 September 1876
Manchester, England
Died| 10 July 1955(1955-07-10) (aged 78)
Western Australia
Political party| Liberal
Spouses|

Emmeline (Lena) Augusta Louisa

(m. 1913; died 1939)​

Dorothy Darlot

(m. 1946)​

Parent(s)| George Newnes and Priscilla Newnes (née Hillyard)
Education| Clare College, Cambridge (1897)
Occupation| Publisher, Businessman, Politician
Known for| George Newnes Ltd.
Country Life, Ltd
The Westminster Gazette

Sir Frank Hillyard Newnes, 2nd Baronet (28 September 1876 – 10 July 1955) was a British publisher, businessman[1] and Liberal politician.[1][2]

## Family and education

[edit]

Frank Hillyard Newnes was born in Manchester,[3] the son of George Newnes, the newspaper publisher and Liberal MP first for Newmarket and later for Swansea. His mother was Priscilla Newnes (née Hillyard) the daughter of the Reverend James Hillyard. He had an older brother who died aged eight years and whose death was said to have devastated his father.[4] Newnes was educated privately before attending Clare College, Cambridge where he graduated with MA and LL.B. degrees in 1897.[5]

In 1913 Newnes married Emmeline Augusta Louisa (Lena), the daughter of the late Sir Albert de Rutzen, who had held the office of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Bow Street.[6] Lena Newnes became a well-known society hostess and philanthropist, raising thousands of pounds for various charitable and educational causes. She was a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. She died in 1939.[7]

Newnes married again in 1946. His second wife was Dorothy (née Darlot), the widow of Stephen Delmar-Morgan, who was originally from Perth, Western Australia.[1] There were no children from either marriage.

## Career

[edit]

On leaving university in 1897,[3] Newnes followed his father into his publishing business, eventually becoming President of George Newnes Ltd. He also became Chairman of Country Life, Ltd and a director of other companies in the publishing trade, including The Westminster Gazette,[1] the Liberal-supporting newspaper founded by his father. The paper was dubbed the "pea-green incorruptible" – Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone having personally approved its green colour.[8] The firm was based at 17-21 Tavistock Street in premises leased from the eleventh Duke of Bedford.[9]

Newnes also had other commercial and investment interests, and served on the boards of the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society and Norwich Union Life Insurance Society. He also served as a director of City & Commercial Investment Trusts Ltd and Redeemable Securities Trust Ltd and was Chairman of Associated Weavers, Ltd and Armoride Ltd.[1] In addition to his business career, Newnes was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1898,[3] although it is not recorded that he ever practised the law. In 1907, he became a director of The Inambari Para-Rubber Estates, Limited, a joint stock company that exported rubber from the Inambari River in Peru.[10]

## Politics

[edit]

Newnes also followed his father in his political persuasions. A sometime member of the National Liberal Council,[1] he was elected Liberal MP for Bassetlaw in north Nottinghamshire at the 1906 general election, gaining the seat from the Conservatives by a majority of 531 votes. However, the seat returned to the Tories at the January 1910 election by the even narrower margin of 341 votes. He did not stand for Parliament again.[11] However his father died in 1910 and Newnes inherited the baronetcy.[4]

## War service

[edit]

In 1915, during World War I, Newnes was commissioned a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Two years later he transferred to the army and attained the rank of Captain in the 12th Battalion, the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment.[3]

## Public and charity appointments

[edit]

Newnes’ main non-political interests were in public health matters and he also understandably busied himself with press-related charities. He was a member of the Voluntary Hospitals Committee for London, a member of the management committees of the Royal Free Hospital and its Medical School and also served as Chairman of the Post-Graduate Institute of Dental Surgery and of the Eastman Dental Hospital. In his publishing charity work, Newnes became President of the Printers Pension Corporation and was a vice-president of the Periodical Proprietors Association.[3] In 1949 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of St John.[12]

## Death

[edit]

Newnes died in Western Australia on 10 July 1955 at the age of 78 years.[3] As he had no children the Newnes baronetcy became extinct on his death.

## See also

[edit]

* Frank Newnes Glacier

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f "NEWNES, Sir Frank Hillyard". Who Was Who. A & C Black. 1920–2008. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
2. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
3. ^ a b c d e f The Times, 11 July 1955, p.13
4. ^ a b A. J. A. Morris, 'Sir George Newnes', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP 2004–11
5. ^ "Newnes, Frank Hillyard (NWNS894FH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
6. ^ The Times (23 September 1913), p. 9.
7. ^ The Times (9 October 1939), p. 4.
8. ^ Membery, York. "George Newnes: The Liberal Press Baron," in Journal of Liberal History #68 (Autumn 2010), p. 5.
9. ^ Sheppard, F H W. "'Southampton Street and Tavistock Street Area: Tavistock Street', in Survey of London: Volume 36, Covent Garden". British History Online. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
10. ^ "Book of Prospectuses Statements for Information and Circulars to Shareholders of Public Companies". Book of Prospectuses Statements for Information and Circulars to Shareholders of Public Companies (33). Stock Exchange (London, England). Share and Loan Department: 49. 1907.
11. ^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885–1918, Macmillan Press, 1974 p365
12. ^ The Times (5 January 1949), p. 7.

## External links

[edit]

* Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Frank Newnes

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Preceded by

Frederick Milner

|  Member of Parliament for Bassetlaw
1906 – Jan 1910 | Succeeded by

Sir Ellis Hume-Williams, 1st Baronet

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by

George Newnes

|  Baronet
(of Wildcroft, Hollerday Hill and Hesketh House)
1910–1955  | Extinct
*[m.]: married