* From an unnamed source handed down to me from my father.

# A hand-written piece of paper that I found amongst my father's records shows Edwin having three children, Sophie, Lily and Edwin. Below Lily is shown a son Roy and in brackets beside his name and in feinter ink and in what looks like my father's hand-writing "(Harrods) Deacon". This information must be wrong since the children's names are consistent in two census records.

Outline his Life:

From John Allen Sandys Newman May 2002: "Edwin Henry Armstrong Newman [sic]: Sherborne school 1837-1846. Head of School 1846. Christ Church Oxford 1847. BA 1850. Admitted Solicitor 1853". [Note - the confusion between Edwin and his son Edwin Henry Armstrong Newman seems to have been a common problem - I was confused about it for a long time.]

In the 1851 census, he was living with his father at Hendford in Yeovil. By the time of the 1861 census he is shows staying with his father at Hendford, however in the same census his wife Sophia is shown living at 19 Bolton Street, off Picadilly (near Mayfair) London with her two small daughters, Sophia S. Newman (3) and Charlotte E. Newman (1), and her mother Sophia S. Armstrong. Edwin was obviously head of the house, because Sophia is described as "wife of Solicitor", and her mother is described as "mother-in-law". Quite probably this was the London residence of old Edwin Newman since it fits very well with Edith Paynter's description of her mother's early life when she lived in London. It would not be unlikely that Edwin would make his London home available for his eldest son's young family.

The 1871 census shows the family with three children, Charlotte E. (11); Edwin H.A. (9); and Violet I. (2), but the eldest, Sophia S. Newman is not mentioned. Sophia B. Newman was then 35 and was born in France (though a British subject). The family was then living at 11 and 12 Craven St (a double house), St Martin in the Fields in the City of Westminster.

The 1881 census shows the family living at 35 Denbigh Place in the parish of St George Hanover Square, Westminster. Edwin by this time was 51 but is recorded as a "Retired Solicitor, B.A. Cambridge". Presumably ill-health (TB?) had overtaken him and forced him to early retirement. Edwin's son, Edwin H.A. Newman, was recorded as an "Articled Clerk to Solicitor, London".

Information from the 1881 census as presented on the LDS (Latterday Saints) website http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ tells a similar story, and gives Edwin's marriage date as 25th Sept 1856. However not all the information is correct, since it gives his birth date as 1830 and says that he had no children.

Edwin's wife Sophia was his second cousin as confirmed by his son E.H.A. Newman's obituary which states that "Mr.Newman, on his mother's side, was a descendant of Sir Joseph Jekyll, Lord Chief Justice of England, Great Master of the Rolls. Mr.Newman's mother was the daughter of Dr.Armstrong, son of the Rev.Armstrong, Rector of Stamford-le-Hope, a direct descendant of "Johnnie" Armstrong, the Laird of Gilnochie, chief of the Armstrong Clan." This has been confirmed by research undertaken by Diane Howard, as described on Sophia's page.

Last Updated: 12 July 2005 - substantial rewrite, with information from 1861 census added and speculation that Edwin's father Edwin Newman may have owned the house at 19 Bolton Street.
10 Feb 2005 - discovery of Edwin's family on 1871 and 1881 census records which show his son to have been Edwin H.A. Newman, plus other details of his family.
21st Dec 2005: Sophia's data removed to her own separate page.