Frank Newsam
Encyclopedia
Sir Frank Aubrey Newsam GCB KBE CVO MC
(13 November 1893 – 25 April 1964) was a British
civil servant notable for serving as Permanent Under-Secretary of State
to the Home Office
from 1948 to 1957, although he had been a central figure for many years previously. His strong leadership abilities had a dominating effect on the character of his department, in which he served for all but a few months of his career. His principal interest during this time was the Police service, for which he created the Police Staff College
at Bramshill. At his best in a crisis, his contribution to the recovery after the North Sea flood of 1953
was particularly praised.
A man of great energy and drive, Newsam's tendency to impatience with those who disagreed with him meant he was not automatically popular with the Home Secretaries
under which he worked. However his negotiating ability was superb and he allowed himself time to enjoy the finer things in life. His eventual successor Philip Allen
regarded him as operating in the tradition of preserving the liberty of the subject wherever possible; those who had worked under him also noted his highly prized commitment to keeping the politicians in charge of the department out of trouble at all costs.
, where his father William Elias Newsam held a post in the colonial civil service. He went to school at Harrison College
in Barbados, and then won an open scholarship
in classics
to St John's College
, Oxford
in 1911. Newsam graduated in 1915 with second classes in each of Mods
and Greats
, his failure to achieve a first being later ascribed to his desire to enjoy life while at university. Newsam (who had been a member of the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps) was then commissioned as a Second Lieutenant
in the Royal Irish Regiment
. He saw active service in Ireland and was wounded during the Easter Rising
in 1916; during the First World War he served in Belgium, France, the Punjab and Afghanistan. In September 1918, while a Lieutenant
, he was awarded the Military Cross
; the citation referred to him going "forward collecting all stragglers and reorganising the line when one of the companies commenced to retire", so restoring the offensive capability of his unit.
Late in the war, Newsam served with the first battalion of the 30th Punjabis in India (in October 1919 he was promoted to the rank of Captain
in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers). He served again in Ireland after the armistice, but after demobilisation in 1919 he joined the teaching staff at Harrow School
under Dr Lionel Ford
. Newsam was at Harrow for only a brief period while waiting for the result of the Class I Competition for the Home Civil Service. In July 1920 he was informed that he had passed, and then joined the children's division of the Home Office
.
Sir John Anderson
, as Anderson's own private secretary. Having come to trust Newsam's abilities, Anderson retained him in this post despite Newsam's promotion to principal in 1925. There were some who saw him as a "power behind the throne" in assisting Anderson. In 1927, Anderson placed Newsam in an even more pivotal post as Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Home Affairs
– responsible for administering the office of the political head of the department. Newsam held this key position for over five years, assisting Home Secretaries William Joynson-Hicks
('Jix'), J. R. Clynes, Sir Herbert Samuel
, and Sir John Gilmour. Especially after Anderson left in 1932 (his successor Sir Russell Scott came from the Treasury
with little knowledge of the operation of the Home Office), no other civil servant rivalled his experience. For his part, Newsam learned a great deal about the operations of senior politicians and of Parliament
.
. Newsam sat on a departmental committee of inquiry into Firearms
in 1934, and this was followed by the problem of addressing the disorder caused by fighting between members of the British Union of Fascists
and its opponents. Newsam played a large role in devising and then implementing the Public Order Act 1936
, which banned all political uniforms and was seen as effective in returning order to the streets.
). Late in 1938, Newsam was selected as Principal Officer in the South Eastern Civil Defence region; this role meant that should war break out, he would be Chief of Staff to the Regional Commissioner. He duly took up his post in September 1939 but after only a few months in Tunbridge Wells, he was recalled to London to take charge of the criminal and aliens divisions, now with the rank of Assistant Under-Secretary of State.
In April 1941 Newsam's appointment to Deputy Under-Secretary of State was announced. He was now the second most senior civil servant in the Home Office and had a special responsibility for security. Newsam negotiated with the United States
how to handle criminal offences committed by American soldiers in the United Kingdom, the agreement being enacted in the United States of America (Visiting Forces) Act 1942. With the Home Office responsible for relations with the Crown Dependencies, Newsam drew up plans for the restoration of life in the Channel Islands
once German occupation
was ended. Newsam's plans were subsequently put into effect in 1945, and led to a long association with the islands where he helped reform constitutions and develop their legal and administrative systems.
Having been in charge of internment
of enemy aliens and suspected fascist sympathisers under Defence Regulation 18B
, Newsam had in 1944 to consider the vexed question of what to do with the 'Red Book' containing the membership list from Archibald Maule Ramsay
's 'Right Club', after Ramsay was released from detention. After discussing the question with a colleague, the idea came up that it may be necessary to illegally destroy the book and then take the chance that Ramsay would get only token damages out of any legal action that might ensue. In the end, the book was returned to Ramsay. Newsam became Sir Frank in 1943 when he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours
.
s that were not especially large had a separate constabulary. Wartime powers had forced some to amalgamate, but Newsam needed to go further. Conscious that a Whitehall takeover was feared, in May 1945 he spoke to the conference of the Chief Constables' Association to reassure them that there would be no regional or national police forces. He eventually drafted the Police Act 1946
which abolished nearly all the borough police forces outside County borough
s, and allowed for more amalgamations. Once the Act was passed, Newsam again reassured the police that there was no question of regionalisation or nationalisation because "such an idea is an anathema to the Home Office".
Meanwhile Newsam also looked into the whole policing service from 1944, and became personally committed to the idea of establishing a national staff college for the police. He saw that the project found the land needed for its buildings (at Bramshill, near Hartley Wintney
in Hampshire
), and became the founder chairman of the Board of Governors of the Police Staff College
in 1947. He retained this role for the rest of his career.
as Home Secretary, with whom he had an uneasy relationship (Ede was believed not to trust Newsam's judgment). With Ede maintaining control over the department, Newsam had to deal with routine matters including presenting evidence to the Royal Commission
on Betting, Lotteries and Gaming.
However Newsam did make an important contribution to British relations with Northern Ireland
after Taoiseach
John A. Costello
revealed his government's intention to declare Ireland
a Republic. In discussions in December 1948, Newsam first suggested passing a law declaring that Northern Ireland could not be removed from the United Kingdom
without the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland
. Such a provision was included in the Ireland Act 1949
. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1950 New Year Honours.
; his was the first to appear.
. While Deputy Under-Secretary he had strongly advised against reprieving John Amery
, son of a leading Conservative politician who had pleaded guilty to treason during the war; he believed reprieving Amery would be a weak move which would look like a political fix. He also opposed a reprieve for William Joyce
, convicted of treason for propaganda broadcasting. In 1949 Newsam gave evidence for the Home Office at the Royal Commission
on Capital Punishment under Sir Ernest Gowers
, largely defending the established system.
Once he became Permanent Secretary Newsam had personal involvement in the process whereby the Home Secretary decided whether to reprieve those condemned to death; he signed the letters informing the prisoners' families of the Home Secretary's decision.
He also received the families and legal representatives of those condemned to death while they pleaded for a reprieve from the Home Secretary. On 12 July 1955 Newsam was summoned back from Ascot Racecourse
to meet Ruth Ellis
' solicitor who wished to present new evidence. William Bentley wrote that Newsam spent an hour with him and his daughter while they related the difficult medical history of his condemned son Derek Bentley, and that "Sir Frank listened sympathetically, but made no comment". Material released by the Public Record Office
in 1992 revealed that Newsam had argued for a reprieve with the words "My own view is towards leniency". Philip Allen later wrote that Newsam was "gravely concerned" when Home Secretary David Maxwell Fyfe
disregarded his recommendation and refused to reprieve Bentley.
As a civil servant, Newsam's own views on capital punishment were not public. Long after Newsam's death, an academic journal article reported three separate views of people who knew Newsam well, all of whom believed that he supported retaining capital punishment. Towards the end of his career Newsam developed the distinction between capital and non-capital murder which was enacted in the Homicide Act 1957
.
The Home Office had the responsibility of dealing with any civil emergency matter which might arise, and Newsam took personal charge as chairman of the official committee on emergencies. In 1953 the storm tide of the North Sea
caused severe flooding along the East coast
; Newsam controlled the direction of all the resources of the government in repairing sea defences and homes, including taking charge of very large numbers of troops who provided an emergency workforce. Rab Butler
wrote that he "had almost literally taken charge of the country" and "secured achievements that would have surprised Canute".
The main business of the emergencies committee was to cope with strikes, and here Newsam was cautious that the Government should not intervene incorrectly or excessively (particularly if asked to call out troops), because the likely effect would be to cause the strike to spread. Newsam was thought to have been at his best in an emergency when he had to be decisive and authoritative. On 1 July 1955 he was appointed Knight of the Venerable Order of Saint John
.
man who stowed away on the ship Jarosław Dąbrowski and attempted to go ashore in London and claim asylum
. Klimowicz was spotted by the crew and detained on the ship. Newsam sent Home Office lawyers to obtain a writ of habeas corpus
and then arranged for 120 police officers, led in person by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
(Sir John Nott-Bower
) to board the ship and rescue Klimowicz on 31 July. The Polish Embassy protested, but Klimowicz was allowed to stay.
However Newsam's intervention in another matter was less successful: in late 1956 Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George
accepted Newsam's advice and authorised the telephone tapping
of Billy Hill, a known criminal, in order to provide evidence for a Bar council
investigation of his barrister
Patrick Marrinan's professional conduct. When this use of tapping powers was revealed in June 1957 (by which time Rab Butler
had succeeded Lloyd George), there was a major row with the Leader of the Opposition Hugh Gaitskell
demanding a full explanation. Butler pledged that it would not be a precedent and that he would consider withdrawing the evidence and asking the Bar council to disregard it. Marrinan was subsequently disbarred and expelled by Lincoln's Inn
, but Butler was forced to appoint a committee of Privy Counsellors under Sir Norman Birkett to look into the prerogative
power of intercepting telephone communications.
In retirement, Newsam was commissioned by the British Medical Association
to report into whether it was realistic for doctors to withdraw from the National Health Service
should their pay demand be rejected. He found that the threat to withdraw was unrealistic, and that public opinion would not easily forgive a move on behalf of doctors to undermine the NHS. Newsam's conclusion was unwelcome to the BMA which officially dissociated itself from it. He also served on the police committee of the British Transport Commission
. Newsam's health had begun to decline during his last years in office, and he died of cancer
at his home in Paddington
on 25 April 1964. His name lived on as the Police Staff College inaugurated the 'Frank Newsam Memorial Lectures' on criminal justice matters.
Newsam's wife Jean, whom he married in December 1927, was from South Africa
. She left London to live in Wylye, Wiltshire
during World War II, and liked the countryside so much that she never returned to live in London. Newsam saw her most weekends but remained living in London after he retired; the couple remained very friendly but did not see much of each other, and they had no children.
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(13 November 1893 – 25 April 1964) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
civil servant notable for serving as Permanent Under-Secretary of State
Permanent Secretary
The Permanent secretary, in most departments officially titled the permanent under-secretary of state , is the most senior civil servant of a British Government ministry, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis...
to the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
from 1948 to 1957, although he had been a central figure for many years previously. His strong leadership abilities had a dominating effect on the character of his department, in which he served for all but a few months of his career. His principal interest during this time was the Police service, for which he created the Police Staff College
Police Staff College, Bramshill
The Police Staff College, Bramshill, Bramshill House, Bramshill, Hook, Hampshire, England, is the principal police staff training establishment in the United Kingdom....
at Bramshill. At his best in a crisis, his contribution to the recovery after the North Sea flood of 1953
North Sea flood of 1953
The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm, that occurred on the night of Saturday 31 January 1953 and morning of 1 February 1953. The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland.A combination of a high spring tide and a severe European windstorm caused a...
was particularly praised.
A man of great energy and drive, Newsam's tendency to impatience with those who disagreed with him meant he was not automatically popular with the Home Secretaries
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
under which he worked. However his negotiating ability was superb and he allowed himself time to enjoy the finer things in life. His eventual successor Philip Allen
Philip Allen, Baron Allen of Abbeydale
Philip Allen, Baron Allen of Abbeydale, GCB was a British civil servant.-Education and early life:...
regarded him as operating in the tradition of preserving the liberty of the subject wherever possible; those who had worked under him also noted his highly prized commitment to keeping the politicians in charge of the department out of trouble at all costs.
Education and war service
Newsam was born in BarbadosBarbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, where his father William Elias Newsam held a post in the colonial civil service. He went to school at Harrison College
Harrison College (Barbados)
Harrison College is a co-educational grammar school in Bridgetown, Barbados. Founded in 1733, the school takes its name from Thomas Harrison, a Bridgetown merchant, who intended it to serve as "A Public and Free School for the poor and indigent boys of the parish".It thereafter has evolved into...
in Barbados, and then won an open scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
in classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
to St John's College
St John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1911. Newsam graduated in 1915 with second classes in each of Mods
Honour Moderations
Honour Moderations are a first set of examinations at Oxford University in England during the first part of the degree course for some courses ....
and Greats
Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
, his failure to achieve a first being later ascribed to his desire to enjoy life while at university. Newsam (who had been a member of the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps) was then commissioned as a Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
in the Royal Irish Regiment
Royal Irish Regiment (1684-1922)
The Royal Irish Regiment, until 1881 the 18th Regiment of Foot, was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, first raised in 1684. Also known as the 18th Regiment of Foot and the 18th Regiment of Foot, it was one of eight Irish regiments raised largely in Ireland, its home depot in...
. He saw active service in Ireland and was wounded during the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
in 1916; during the First World War he served in Belgium, France, the Punjab and Afghanistan. In September 1918, while a Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
, he was awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
; the citation referred to him going "forward collecting all stragglers and reorganising the line when one of the companies commenced to retire", so restoring the offensive capability of his unit.
Late in the war, Newsam served with the first battalion of the 30th Punjabis in India (in October 1919 he was promoted to the rank of Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers). He served again in Ireland after the armistice, but after demobilisation in 1919 he joined the teaching staff at Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
under Dr Lionel Ford
Lionel Ford
Lionel George Bridges Justice Ford was an Anglican priest who served as Dean of York after two headmasterships at eminent English public schools....
. Newsam was at Harrow for only a brief period while waiting for the result of the Class I Competition for the Home Civil Service. In July 1920 he was informed that he had passed, and then joined the children's division of the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
.
Early career
Newsam made his mark in the division, and in 1924 was picked by the then Permanent SecretaryPermanent Secretary
The Permanent secretary, in most departments officially titled the permanent under-secretary of state , is the most senior civil servant of a British Government ministry, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis...
Sir John Anderson
John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley
John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, PC, PC was a British civil servant then politician who served as a minister under Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill as Home Secretary, Lord President of the Council and Chancellor of the Exchequer...
, as Anderson's own private secretary. Having come to trust Newsam's abilities, Anderson retained him in this post despite Newsam's promotion to principal in 1925. There were some who saw him as a "power behind the throne" in assisting Anderson. In 1927, Anderson placed Newsam in an even more pivotal post as Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Home Affairs
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
– responsible for administering the office of the political head of the department. Newsam held this key position for over five years, assisting Home Secretaries William Joynson-Hicks
William Joynson-Hicks, 1st Viscount Brentford
William Joynson-Hicks, 1st Viscount Brentford PC, PC , DL , known as Sir William Joynson-Hicks, Bt, from 1919 to 1929 and popularly known as Jix, was an English solicitor and Conservative Party politician, best known as a long-serving and controversial Home Secretary from 1924 to 1929, during which...
('Jix'), J. R. Clynes, Sir Herbert Samuel
Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel
Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel GCB OM GBE PC was a British politician and diplomat.-Early years:...
, and Sir John Gilmour. Especially after Anderson left in 1932 (his successor Sir Russell Scott came from the Treasury
HM Treasury
HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...
with little knowledge of the operation of the Home Office), no other civil servant rivalled his experience. For his part, Newsam learned a great deal about the operations of senior politicians and of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
.
Assistant Secretary
A round of changes in civil service appointments at the Home Office in June 1933 saw Newsam, now promoted to Assistant Secretary, take charge of a new division. His first responsibility was to guide into law the Betting and Lotteries Act 1934, but he soon began to handle other sensitive matters. He was also appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1933 Queen's Birthday HonoursQueen's Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...
. Newsam sat on a departmental committee of inquiry into Firearms
Gun politics in the United Kingdom
Gun politics in the United Kingdom generally places its main considerations on how best to ensure public safety and how deaths involving firearms can most effectively be prevented. The United Kingdom has one of the lowest rates of gun homicides in the world, and did so even before strict gun...
in 1934, and this was followed by the problem of addressing the disorder caused by fighting between members of the British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
and its opponents. Newsam played a large role in devising and then implementing the Public Order Act 1936
Public Order Act 1936
The Public Order Act 1936 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed to control extremist political movements in the 1930s such as the British Union of Fascists ....
, which banned all political uniforms and was seen as effective in returning order to the streets.
Second World War
1938 saw Newsam moved to take charge of the criminal division, where he began preparations for a major Criminal Justice Bill; however the advancing threat of war led to it being put off (in the event, most of the provisions were enacted in the Criminal Justice Act 1948Criminal Justice Act 1948
The Criminal Justice Act 1948 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It has been described as "one of the most important measures relating to the reform of the criminal law and its administration." It abolished penal servitude, hard labour and prison divisions for England and Wales...
). Late in 1938, Newsam was selected as Principal Officer in the South Eastern Civil Defence region; this role meant that should war break out, he would be Chief of Staff to the Regional Commissioner. He duly took up his post in September 1939 but after only a few months in Tunbridge Wells, he was recalled to London to take charge of the criminal and aliens divisions, now with the rank of Assistant Under-Secretary of State.
In April 1941 Newsam's appointment to Deputy Under-Secretary of State was announced. He was now the second most senior civil servant in the Home Office and had a special responsibility for security. Newsam negotiated with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
how to handle criminal offences committed by American soldiers in the United Kingdom, the agreement being enacted in the United States of America (Visiting Forces) Act 1942. With the Home Office responsible for relations with the Crown Dependencies, Newsam drew up plans for the restoration of life in the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
once German occupation
Occupation of the Channel Islands
The Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi Germany for much of World War II, from 30 June 1940 until the liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands are two British Crown dependencies and include the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey as well as the smaller islands of Alderney and Sark...
was ended. Newsam's plans were subsequently put into effect in 1945, and led to a long association with the islands where he helped reform constitutions and develop their legal and administrative systems.
Having been in charge of internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
of enemy aliens and suspected fascist sympathisers under Defence Regulation 18B
Defence Regulation 18B
Defence Regulation 18B, often referred to as simply 18B, was the most famous of the Defence Regulations used by the British Government during World War II. The complete technical reference name for this rule was: Regulation 18B of the Defence Regulations 1939. It allowed for the internment of...
, Newsam had in 1944 to consider the vexed question of what to do with the 'Red Book' containing the membership list from Archibald Maule Ramsay
Archibald Maule Ramsay
Captain Archibald Henry Maule Ramsay was a British Army officer who later went into politics as a Scottish Unionist Member of Parliament . From the late 1930s he developed increasingly strident antisemitic views...
's 'Right Club', after Ramsay was released from detention. After discussing the question with a colleague, the idea came up that it may be necessary to illegally destroy the book and then take the chance that Ramsay would get only token damages out of any legal action that might ensue. In the end, the book was returned to Ramsay. Newsam became Sir Frank in 1943 when he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours
New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the New Year annually in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen Elizabeth II...
.
Policing
It was towards the end of the war that Newsam's particular interest in the police force began to take shape. His first task was to reform the large number of very small police forces, as many municipal boroughMunicipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
s that were not especially large had a separate constabulary. Wartime powers had forced some to amalgamate, but Newsam needed to go further. Conscious that a Whitehall takeover was feared, in May 1945 he spoke to the conference of the Chief Constables' Association to reassure them that there would be no regional or national police forces. He eventually drafted the Police Act 1946
Police Act 1946
The Police Act 1946 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provided for the amalgamation of smaller borough police forces with county constabularies in England and Wales, allowed for the merger of county forces in certain circumstances and changed the boundaries of...
which abolished nearly all the borough police forces outside County borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
s, and allowed for more amalgamations. Once the Act was passed, Newsam again reassured the police that there was no question of regionalisation or nationalisation because "such an idea is an anathema to the Home Office".
Meanwhile Newsam also looked into the whole policing service from 1944, and became personally committed to the idea of establishing a national staff college for the police. He saw that the project found the land needed for its buildings (at Bramshill, near Hartley Wintney
Hartley Wintney
Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire.-Location and character:Hartley Wintney is in the Hart district of North-East Hampshire...
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
), and became the founder chairman of the Board of Governors of the Police Staff College
Police Staff College, Bramshill
The Police Staff College, Bramshill, Bramshill House, Bramshill, Hook, Hampshire, England, is the principal police staff training establishment in the United Kingdom....
in 1947. He retained this role for the rest of his career.
Permanent Secretary
On 10 August 1948 it was announced that Sir Alexander Maxwell was to retire at the end of September, and that Newsam had been appointed to follow him as Permanent Secretary at the Home Office. In effect this was a delayed promotion; Newsam was already 54, and might easily have reached the rank earlier. At first he had to deal with Chuter EdeJames Chuter Ede
James Chuter Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede CH, PC, DL was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour politician. He notably served as Home Secretary under Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951.-Early life:...
as Home Secretary, with whom he had an uneasy relationship (Ede was believed not to trust Newsam's judgment). With Ede maintaining control over the department, Newsam had to deal with routine matters including presenting evidence to the Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
on Betting, Lotteries and Gaming.
However Newsam did make an important contribution to British relations with Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
after Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
John A. Costello
John A. Costello
John Aloysius Costello , a successful barrister, was one of the main legal advisors to the government of the Irish Free State after independence, Attorney General of Ireland from 1926–1932 and Taoiseach from 1948–1951 and 1954–1957....
revealed his government's intention to declare Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
a Republic. In discussions in December 1948, Newsam first suggested passing a law declaring that Northern Ireland could not be removed from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
without the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Parliament of Northern Ireland
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
. Such a provision was included in the Ireland Act 1949
Ireland Act 1949
The Ireland Act 1949 is a British Act of Parliament that was intended to deal with the consequences of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 as passed by the Irish parliament...
. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1950 New Year Honours.
Conservative government
After the Conservatives returned to government in 1951, Newsam's activity and knowledge of his department enabled him to assert himself and he was thought to have almost eclipsed the Home Secretaries who were nominally superior. Newsam preferred to deal direct with the Home Secretary, eschewing even the junior Ministers in the department. In 1954, Newsam accepted the invitation to write a book explaining the work of the Home Office for "The New Whitehall Series", a series intended "to provide authoritative descriptions of the present work of the major Departments of the Central Government" published by George Allen & Unwin LtdAllen & Unwin
Allen & Unwin, formerly a major British publishing house, is now an independent book publisher and distributor based in Australia. The Australian directors have been the sole owners of the Allen & Unwin name since effecting a management buy out at the time the UK parent company, Unwin Hyman, was...
; his was the first to appear.
Capital punishment
One of Newsam's principal concerns was the operation of capital punishmentCapital punishment in the United Kingdom
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom was used from the creation of the state in 1707 until the practice was abolished in the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom, by hanging, took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment being abolished for murder...
. While Deputy Under-Secretary he had strongly advised against reprieving John Amery
John Amery
John Amery was a British fascist who proposed to the Wehrmacht the formation of a British volunteer force and made recruitment efforts and propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany...
, son of a leading Conservative politician who had pleaded guilty to treason during the war; he believed reprieving Amery would be a weak move which would look like a political fix. He also opposed a reprieve for William Joyce
William Joyce
William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
, convicted of treason for propaganda broadcasting. In 1949 Newsam gave evidence for the Home Office at the Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
on Capital Punishment under Sir Ernest Gowers
Ernest Gowers
Sir Ernest Arthur Gowers GCB GBE Hon. D.Litt Hon. ARIBA was a British civil servant, now best known for work on style guides for writing the English language.-Life:...
, largely defending the established system.
Once he became Permanent Secretary Newsam had personal involvement in the process whereby the Home Secretary decided whether to reprieve those condemned to death; he signed the letters informing the prisoners' families of the Home Secretary's decision.
He also received the families and legal representatives of those condemned to death while they pleaded for a reprieve from the Home Secretary. On 12 July 1955 Newsam was summoned back from Ascot Racecourse
Ascot Racecourse
Ascot Racecourse is a famous English racecourse, located in the small town of Ascot, Berkshire, used for thoroughbred horse racing. It is one of the leading racecourses in the United Kingdom, hosting 9 of the UK's 32 annual Group 1 races...
to meet Ruth Ellis
Ruth Ellis
Ruth Ellis , née Neilson, was the last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom. She was convicted of the murder of her lover, David Blakely, and hanged at Holloway Prison, London, by Albert Pierrepoint.-Biography:...
' solicitor who wished to present new evidence. William Bentley wrote that Newsam spent an hour with him and his daughter while they related the difficult medical history of his condemned son Derek Bentley, and that "Sir Frank listened sympathetically, but made no comment". Material released by the Public Record Office
Public Record Office
The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
in 1992 revealed that Newsam had argued for a reprieve with the words "My own view is towards leniency". Philip Allen later wrote that Newsam was "gravely concerned" when Home Secretary David Maxwell Fyfe
David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir
David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir GCVO, PC, KC, , known as Sir David Maxwell Fyfe from 1942 to 1954 and as The Viscount Kilmuir from 1954 to 1962, was a British Conservative politician, lawyer and judge who combined an industrious and precocious legal career with political ambitions...
disregarded his recommendation and refused to reprieve Bentley.
As a civil servant, Newsam's own views on capital punishment were not public. Long after Newsam's death, an academic journal article reported three separate views of people who knew Newsam well, all of whom believed that he supported retaining capital punishment. Towards the end of his career Newsam developed the distinction between capital and non-capital murder which was enacted in the Homicide Act 1957
Homicide Act 1957
The Homicide Act 1957 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was enacted as a partial reform of the common law offence of murder in English law by abolishing the doctrine of constructive malice , reforming the partial defence of provocation, and by introducing the partial defences...
.
Emergency planning
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
caused severe flooding along the East coast
North Sea flood of 1953
The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm, that occurred on the night of Saturday 31 January 1953 and morning of 1 February 1953. The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland.A combination of a high spring tide and a severe European windstorm caused a...
; Newsam controlled the direction of all the resources of the government in repairing sea defences and homes, including taking charge of very large numbers of troops who provided an emergency workforce. Rab Butler
Rab Butler
Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG CH DL PC , who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician...
wrote that he "had almost literally taken charge of the country" and "secured achievements that would have surprised Canute".
The main business of the emergencies committee was to cope with strikes, and here Newsam was cautious that the Government should not intervene incorrectly or excessively (particularly if asked to call out troops), because the likely effect would be to cause the strike to spread. Newsam was thought to have been at his best in an emergency when he had to be decisive and authoritative. On 1 July 1955 he was appointed Knight of the Venerable Order of Saint John
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
.
Other issues
In 1954 Newsam was caught up in a diplomatic incident over Antoni Klimowicz, a 24-year-old PolishPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
man who stowed away on the ship Jarosław Dąbrowski and attempted to go ashore in London and claim asylum
Right of asylum
Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
. Klimowicz was spotted by the crew and detained on the ship. Newsam sent Home Office lawyers to obtain a writ of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
and then arranged for 120 police officers, led in person by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service, classing the holder as a chief police officer...
(Sir John Nott-Bower
John Nott-Bower
Sir John Reginald Hornby Nott-Bower KCVO KPM OStJ was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the London Metropolitan Police, from 1953 to 1958...
) to board the ship and rescue Klimowicz on 31 July. The Polish Embassy protested, but Klimowicz was allowed to stay.
However Newsam's intervention in another matter was less successful: in late 1956 Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George
Gwilym Lloyd George, 1st Viscount Tenby
Major Gwilym Lloyd George, 1st Viscount Tenby PC TD was a British politician and cabinet minister. A younger son of Prime Minister David Lloyd George, he served as Home Secretary from 1954 to 1957....
accepted Newsam's advice and authorised the telephone tapping
Telephone tapping
Telephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...
of Billy Hill, a known criminal, in order to provide evidence for a Bar council
Bar council
A bar council , in a Commonwealth country and in the Republic of Ireland, the Bar Council of Ireland is a professional body that regulates the profession of barristers together with the King's Inns. Solicitors are generally regulated by the Law society....
investigation of his barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
Patrick Marrinan's professional conduct. When this use of tapping powers was revealed in June 1957 (by which time Rab Butler
Rab Butler
Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG CH DL PC , who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician...
had succeeded Lloyd George), there was a major row with the Leader of the Opposition Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell CBE was a British Labour politician, who held Cabinet office in Clement Attlee's governments, and was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955, until his death in 1963.-Early life:He was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest...
demanding a full explanation. Butler pledged that it would not be a precedent and that he would consider withdrawing the evidence and asking the Bar council to disregard it. Marrinan was subsequently disbarred and expelled by Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
, but Butler was forced to appoint a committee of Privy Counsellors under Sir Norman Birkett to look into the prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
power of intercepting telephone communications.
Retirement
When Rab Butler arrived at the Home Office, he quickly decided that his own wish to take charge and reform the department was likely to bring him into conflict with Newsam. He quietly persuaded Newsam to retire. For his part Newsam was well beyond normal retirement age for a civil servant and accepted, fixing his last day in office as 30 September 1957. A few days after his retirement was announced, Newsam was promoted Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours.In retirement, Newsam was commissioned by the British Medical Association
British Medical Association
The British Medical Association is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association’s headquarters are located in BMA House,...
to report into whether it was realistic for doctors to withdraw from the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
should their pay demand be rejected. He found that the threat to withdraw was unrealistic, and that public opinion would not easily forgive a move on behalf of doctors to undermine the NHS. Newsam's conclusion was unwelcome to the BMA which officially dissociated itself from it. He also served on the police committee of the British Transport Commission
British Transport Commission
The British Transport Commission was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain...
. Newsam's health had begun to decline during his last years in office, and he died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at his home in Paddington
Paddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
on 25 April 1964. His name lived on as the Police Staff College inaugurated the 'Frank Newsam Memorial Lectures' on criminal justice matters.
Character
Newsam was described by Philip Allen, who served under him, as a "born leader" and a superb chairman of any meeting, with a strong personality which tended to drive his solutions forward. He was a good negotiator, but Allen and others agreed that Newsam could show impatience and intolerance if other people disagreed with him. While a very good professional administrator, his interest was not in organisation but in problem-solving. In speech he was said to be eloquent and able to produce surprising pieces of knowledge; and several comment on the fact that he had good looks which suggested foreign origins. Newsam enjoyed gambling on horse-racing and enjoyed high living; he was known to drink a great deal.Newsam's wife Jean, whom he married in December 1927, was from South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. She left London to live in Wylye, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
during World War II, and liked the countryside so much that she never returned to live in London. Newsam saw her most weekends but remained living in London after he retired; the couple remained very friendly but did not see much of each other, and they had no children.