Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall

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CBE, AM
Marshal of the RAF Sir Cyril Newall c. 1940
6th Governor-General of New Zealand
In office
22 February 1941 – 19 April 1946
MonarchGeorge VI
Prime MinisterPeter Fraser
Preceded byThe Viscount Galway
Succeeded byThe Lord Freyberg
Personal details
Born
Cyril Louis Norton Newall

15 February 1886
Mentioned in Despatches (3)
Officer of the Legion of Honour (France)
Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy
Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
Croix de guerre
(Belgium)

Second World War. From 1941 to 1946 he was the Governor-General of New Zealand
.

Born to a military family, Newall studied at the

Albert Medal
for putting out a fire in an explosives store.

He served in staff positions through the 1920s and was Air Officer Commanding the

Air Member for Supply and Organisation in 1935. Newall was appointed Chief of the Air Staff in 1937 and, in that role, supported sharp increases in aircraft production, increasing expenditure on the new, heavily armed, Hurricane and Spitfire fighters, essential to re-equip Fighter Command. However, he was sacked after the Battle of Britain
after political intrigue caused him to lose Churchill's confidence. In 1941 he was appointed Governor-General of New Zealand, holding office until 1946.

Early life

Newall was born to Lieutenant Colonel William Potter Newall and Edith Gwendoline Caroline Newall (née Norton). After education at

Hugh Dowding; at an exercise in 1909, Dowding's artillery section ambushed Newall's Gurkhas whilst they were still breakfasting.[5]

Newall began to turn towards a career in aviation in 1911, when he learned to fly in a Bristol Biplane at Larkhill whilst on leave in England.[1] He held certificate No. 144 issued by the Royal Aero Club.[6] He later passed a formal course at the Central Flying School, Upavon in 1913, and began working as a pilot trainer there from 17 November 1913;[7] it was intended that he would form part of a flight training school to be established in India, but he had not yet left England when the First World War broke out.[8]

First World War

On the outbreak of war, Newall was in England. On 12 September 1914, he was given the temporary rank of

No. 12 Squadron, flying BE2c aircraft in France from September onwards.[11] The squadron took part in the Battle of Loos, bombing railways and carrying out reconnaissance missions in October 1915.[12]

On taking command of the squadron, he chose to stop flying personally in order to concentrate on administration, a decision which was regarded dismissively by his men; relations were strained until January 1916, when he demonstrated his courage by walking into a burning bomb store to try to control a fire. He was awarded the

Independent Bombing Force, which was the main strategic bombing arm of the newly formed Royal Air Force.[1] In June 1918 Newall was appointed the Deputy Commander of the Independent Bombing Force, serving under Trenchard.[8]

Newall was awarded the Croix d'Officier of the French

Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 3 June 1919[8] and an Officer of the Belgian Order of Leopold on 18 April 1921.[15]

On the 3rd January, 1916, at about 3 pm, a fire broke out inside a large bomb store belonging to the Royal Flying Corps, which contained nearly 2,000 high explosive bombs, some of which had very large charges, and a number of incendiary bombs which were burning freely. Major Newall at once took all necessary precautions, and then, assisted by Air Mechanic Simms, poured water into the shed through a hole made by the flames. He sent for the key of the store, and with Corporal Hearne, Harwood and Simms entered the building and succeeded in putting out the flames. The wooden cases containing the bombs were burnt, and some of them were charred to a cinder.

— – Citation for the
Albert Medal, published in the London Gazette.[16]

Between the wars

George VI. Further right are Hugh Trenchard and Christopher Courtney
.

Newall was granted a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force as a lieutenant colonel on 1 August 1919[17] and promoted to group captain on 8 August 1919.[18] He became deputy director of Personnel at the Air Ministry in August 1919 and then Deputy Commandant of the apprentices' technical training school in August 1922.[8] He married Mary Weddell in 1922; she died in September 1924, and he remarried the following year to Olive Foster, an American woman. He had three children with Foster, a son and two daughters.[1]

Newall was promoted to

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1935 Birthday Honours[25] and promoted to air marshal on 1 July 1935.[26] He attended the funeral of King George V in January 1936.[27]

Philosophically, Newall remained a close follower of Trenchard during the interwar period; his time in the Independent Bombing Force had left him convinced that strategic bombing was an exceptionally powerful weapon, and one that could not effectively be defended against. In this, he was a supporter of the standard doctrine of the day, which suggested that the destructive power of a bomber force was sufficiently great that it could cripple an industrial economy in short order, and that so merely its presence could potentially serve as an effective deterrent.[1][28] He was promoted to air chief marshal on 1 April 1937.[29]

Chief of the Air Staff

Archibald Sinclair
.

On 1 September 1937, Newall was appointed as Chief of the Air Staff, the military head of the RAF, in succession to Sir Edward Ellington.[30] The promotion was unexpected; of the prospective candidates mooted for the job, Newall has been widely seen by historians as the least gifted.[1] The most prominent candidate was Hugh Dowding, the head of RAF Fighter Command and senior in rank to Newall by three months, who had been informally told by Ellington in 1936 that he was expected to be appointed as the new Chief of the Air Staff. The decision was taken by the Air Minister, Viscount Swinton, without consulting Ellington for advice.[31]

Reginald Grenville Eves
.

During 1936 and 1937, the Air Staff had been fighting with the Cabinet over the rearmament plans; the Air Staff wanted a substantial bomber force and only minor increases in fighters, whilst the Minister for Defence Co-ordination, Thomas Inskip, successfully pushed for a greater role for the fighter force.[32] Newall was promoted during the middle of this debate, and proved perhaps more flexible than might have been expected. In 1938 he supported sharp increases in aircraft production, including double-shift working and duplication of factories, and pushed for the creation of a dedicated organisation to repair and refit damaged aircraft. He supported expenditure on the new, heavily armed, Hurricane and Spitfire fighters, essential to re-equip Fighter Command.[1] He even began to distance himself, albeit slightly, from orthodox bomber philosophy, noting to the Minister for Air that "no one can say with absolute certainty that a nation can be knocked out from the air, because no-one has yet attempted it".[33] Discussing plans for reacting to a war with Italy, in early 1939, he opposed a French proposal to force Italy's surrender by the use of heavy bombing raids against the north, arguing that it would be unlikely to force the country out of the war without the need for ground combat.[34]

Newall was advanced to

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1938 Birthday Honours.[35] He was still Chief of the Air Staff at the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939; his main contribution to the war effort was his successful resistance to the transfer of fighter squadrons to aid the collapsing French thus preserving a large portion of Fighter Command which would become crucial during the Battle of Britain.[1] While he remained committed to the idea of a "knock-out blow" offensive by Bomber Command, he also recognised that it was too weak to do so successfully, but still strongly opposed the use of the RAF for close air support.[1]

Following the end of the Battle of Britain, Newall was quickly forced into retirement and replaced as Chief of the Air Staff by

Lord Beaverbrook over the control of aircraft production and repair.[36] Matters came to a head with the circulation of an anonymous memo attacking Newall, among other senior officers, as "a real weakness to the RAF and to the nation's defences".[37] The author was Air Commodore Edgar McCloughry, a disaffected staff officer who saw himself as passed over for promotion and who had been brought into Beaverbrook's inner circle.[38] Beaverbrook pressed Churchill to dismiss Newall, gaining the support of influential ex-RAF figures such as Trenchard and Salmond. Trenchard had come out against Newall for his failure to launch a decisive strategic bombing offensive, while Salmond saw Newall's removal as the simplest way to replace Dowding as head of Fighter Command – despite Newall having also sought to sack Dowding.[39]

He was promoted to

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George on 21 November.[41]

New Zealand and later life

Newall (shown centre) as Governor-General of New Zealand.

In February 1941 Newall was appointed

Grand Master of New Zealand's Grand Lodge while Governor-General.[43]

Politically, he had a lukewarm relationship with the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser – "I can't persuade myself that he is all he quite appears to be",[44] Newall noted in a private report – but the two worked together effectively. Small problems occasionally flared up, such as that in October 1942, when Fraser was reprimanded for not personally informing Newall of the resignation of four ministers.[44] However, only one developed into a direct confrontation, when Newall became the last Governor-General to refuse to follow the advice of his cabinet.[45] Newall was presented with a government recommendation to remit four prisoners sentenced to be flogged, but refused to do so. He argued that if the government was opposed to flogging, it should repeal the legislation rather than maintain a policy of always remitting the sentences. This would be constitutionally improper, as it meant that the executive was overriding the legislature, which had provided for the sentence, and the judiciary, which had given it. Fraser, and his deputy Walter Nash, refused to accept this response, and the impasse stretched out for several days; in the end, a compromise was reached where Newall remitted the sentences but the government undertook to repeal the legislation. The repeal bill was then extended to cover capital punishment as well; the government had the same policy to always remit, and it was felt that both had to be handled in the same way.[46]

A second conflict emerged just before the end of his term, when in 1945, the Labour government sought to abolish the country quota, a system that gave additional electoral seats in rural areas. Farming groups – predominantly National-supporting – strongly opposed the move, and argued that such a major change could only be made after gaining approval in a general election. Newall sympathised, and advised Fraser to wait until after the election, but did not feel it was appropriate to intervene; he assented to the bill.[47]

Following his return from New Zealand in 1946, Newall was raised to the peerage as Baron Newall, of Clifton upon Dunsmoor, in the county of Warwick.[48] He spoke in the House of Lords rarely, making five speeches between 1946 and 1948 and one in 1959, mostly addressing defence issues.[49] Newall died at his home at Welbeck Street in London on 30 November 1963, at which time his son Francis inherited his title.[1]

Newall is buried with his wife Olive at St Mary Magdalene in Tormarton, South Gloucestershire.[50]

Arms

Coat of arms of Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall
Notes
The arms of Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall consist of:[51][52] (Carved depiction)
Crest
Issuant from an Astral Crown Or an eagle wings elevated Sable breathing flames proper.
Escutcheon
Per Pale Azure and Gules two lions Passant Guardant in Pale Or on a chief Ermine a rose of the second barbed and seeded between a lotus flower and a sprig of New Zealand fern all Proper.
Supporters
On either side a pegasus Argent gorged with an astral crown Or.
Motto
Deo Juvante (With God's help)

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35208. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^ "No. 27827". The London Gazette. 15 August 1905. p. 5620.
  3. ^ "No. 28209". The London Gazette. 29 December 1908. p. 9945.
  4. ^ "No. 28338". The London Gazette. 11 February 1910. p. 1047.
  5. ^ Wright, p. 25
  6. ^ "Aviators' Certificates". 1911. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  7. ^ "No. 28839". The London Gazette. 12 June 1914. p. 4620.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Newall". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  9. ^ "No. 28910". The London Gazette. 22 September 1914. p. 7479.
  10. ^ "No. 28910". The London Gazette. 22 September 1914. p. 7501.
  11. ^ "No. 29120". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 April 1915. p. 3413.
  12. ^ Probert, p. 15
  13. ^ "No. 30526". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 February 1918. p. 2049.
  14. ^ "No. 30945". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 October 1918. p. 11943.
  15. ^ "No. 32292". The London Gazette. 15 April 1921. p. 2997.
  16. ^ "No. 29588". The London Gazette. 19 May 1916. p. 4970.
  17. ^ "No. 31486". The London Gazette. 1 August 1919. p. 9864.
  18. ^ "No. 31495". The London Gazette. 8 August 1919. p. 10090.
  19. ^ "No. 33007". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1924. p. 8.
  20. ^ "No. 33152". The London Gazette. 20 April 1926. p. 2705.
  21. ^ "No. 33501". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1929. p. 3668.
  22. ^ "No. 33566". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1929. p. 14.
  23. ^ "No. 33688". The London Gazette. 10 February 1931. p. 932.
  24. ^ "No. 34124". The London Gazette. 15 January 1935. p. 384.
  25. ^ "No. 34166". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1935. p. 3595.
  26. ^ "No. 34176". The London Gazette. 2 July 1935. p. 4262.
  27. ^ "No. 34279". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 April 1936. p. 2768.
  28. ^ Allen, pp. 24–26
  29. ^ "No. 34385". The London Gazette. 2 April 1937. p. 2126.
  30. ^ "No. 34432". The London Gazette. 3 September 1937. p. 5561.
  31. ^ Wright, pp. 60–63
  32. ^ Allen, pp. 65–66
  33. ^ Allen, p. 66
  34. ^ Salerno, p. 91
  35. ^ "No. 34518". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 June 1938. p. 3688.
  36. ^ Ritchie, pp. 83–4
  37. ^ Ritchie, p. 85
  38. ^ Ritchie, pp. 85–90
  39. ^ Ritchie, pp. 98–100
  40. ^ "No. 34984". The London Gazette. 1 November 1940. p. 6347.
  41. ^ "No. 35065". The London Gazette. 4 February 1941. p. 691.
  42. ^ a b McLean (2006), p. 239
  43. ^ "Vice Regal Grand Masters: Who and Why?". Kent Henderson. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  44. ^ a b McLean (2006), p. 245
  45. ^ "Splendid ornamentals – the Governor-General". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  46. ^ McLean (2006), pp. 245–6; Quentin-Baxter (1979), pp. 312–3; "The Trials of Eric Mareo". University of Wellington. Retrieved 30 July 2012.; Quentin-Baxter, R. Q. (1980). "The Governor-General's Constitutional Discretions: An Essay towards a Re-Definition". Victoria University of Wellington Law Review. 10: 289.
  47. ^ McLean (2006), p. 246
  48. ^ "No. 37658". The London Gazette. 19 July 1946. p. 3736.
  49. ^ Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Newall
  50. ^ "Some Memorial Inscriptions – Tormarton, Gloucestershire: St Mary Magdalene's Churchyard and War Memorial". Worshipful Thinking. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  51. ^ Cox, Noel. "THE ARMS OF LORD NEWALL". www.geocities.ws. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  52. ISBN 978-1-9997670-5-1
    . Retrieved 20 May 2022.

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