Capt Newman was educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his BA in 1893.

Besides being a deputy Lieutenant and Magistrate, Capt. Newman was High Sheriff of County Cork in 1898. He served in the Royal Munster Fusiliers from 1894 to 1899.

Information found in The Essex Weekly News - Friday Dec 29th, 1905, See also my transcription below:

The Essex Weekly News - Friday Dec 29th, 1905
Capt. J.R.B. Newman J.L., J.P.

Captain John Robert Branston Newman, of Newberry Manor and Kinslannig House, County Cork, and 56? Eaton Square, London, is the eldest son of the late Mr. John A.R. Newman J.L., J.P., High Sheriff, County Cork, 1874, and Elizabeth Matilda, daughter of Col. Bramston-Smith J.L., J.P., of Ponternig Hall, Anglesea.

He was born in 1871 and educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his BA in 1893. Capt. Newman, besides being a deputy Lieutenant and Magistrate, was High Sheriff of County Cork in 1898, and he served in the Royal Munster Fusiliers from 1894 to 1899. He married first in 1895 to the Hon. Olivia, daughter of the fourth Lord Plunket, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin, and secondly, Ina, daughter of Col. William Pretyman, 60th Rifles, whose mother was Miss Tower of Weald Hall, of Brentwood and cousin to Col. Edward Tufnel, M.P..

Capt. Newman was amongst the first Irish landowners to give his tenants the advantages of Mr Wyndham’s Land Act, and they think most highly of him as a landlord and a friend. He still retains two residences in Ireland, is a farmer and a known breeder of hunters. He is also a good sportsman, a motorist and, when in Cambridge, was an enthusiastic footballer. Mrs. Newman, like her husband, is a keen politician, and has for years, been a working member of Primrose League Habitations, having served as Dame President. She is also well known for her charitable work amongst the poor of London.

Capt. Newman was one of the earliest members of the Tariff Reform League and has worked hard for it, having made a special study of the subject, he being convinced that it is the only way to safeguard the interests of British Industry and British workers. Indeed, his main plank is Tariff Reform, and on that he is prepared to stand or fall. He is also most strongly opposed to Home Rule, and being a member of the Church of Ireland, is in sympathy with the Irish non-conformists on this point. He is prepared to give the whole of his time to Parliamentary work. For two years he worked in the Brigg Division of Lincolnshire, giving that up to come into South-East Essex to assist Col. Tufnel who was then in ill-health and ordered away. His withdrawal from Brigg occasioned much regret to the Unionist Party there, he and Mrs. Newman having made many friends during their connection with that constituency. Capt. Pretyman, late Secretary to the Admiralty, who is a large landowner in Lincolnshire and Suffolk, interested is Brigg and the neighbouring constituency which he represents, is a cousin of Capt. Newman’s.

Prior to the great Civil War, the Newman family possessed the Manor and estate of Fifehead near Gillingham, Dorsetshire. On the restoration of King Charles II, Col. Richard Newman was granted by the Crown the Castle of Dromaneen in County Cork and lands which were formed into the Manor of Newberry, in commemoration of the battle of that name. in which Col. Richard Newman had distinguished himself. (Note: this is nonsense. See Note below.).

Capt. Newman, although not yet formally adopted as the candidate, will, it is practically certain, will carry the Conservative and Unionist flag in South-East Essex at the pending election.

Note on newspaper article: This newspaper article not only confused Richard Newman of Cork with his fourth-cousin Richard Newman of Fifehead, but also confused Charles II with his brother James II. It lends truth to the adage “don’t believe what you read in the newspapers”.

See the article that I wrote for the NNS Chronicle in May 2023 titled "The Mysterious Colonel Richard Newman".