Detail

Collection Newman Family

Summary

This collection of 29 films by Francis Henry Newman and family, includes family activities, local scenes and Church activities from Otford in the 1930s. There are also holidays and a tour around India in the 1940s and 1950s. The collection also includes a film of VE Day, filmed by an American in London in 1945.

Collection ID	714	Reference code	K 050428
Title	Newman Family
Dates	1933 - 1957
Production	Francis Henry Newman and Alice Margaret Clark (nee Newman)
Materials	DOCUMENTATION FILM 9.5mm 16mm Photographic Prints/Neg Books
Access status	Copyright and access restrictions apply, contact Screen Archive South East for details

Description

This collection by Francis Henry Newman includes: film of family gatherings at home and outings to the beach at Westgate; holidays to Cornwall and a journey to India; activities at home including playing the piano and games in the garden; and several Otford Methodist Church Sunday School events such as Christmas carols, jumble sales and outings to the seaside.

Born 1896, Newman served as a medical orderly with the Friends Ambulance Unit at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Dunkirk during the First World War where alongside nursing duties he was also involved in technical support working early x-ray equipment. He trained at The College of the Pharmaceutical Society winning a silver medal for chemistry and from 1921 worked as a pharmacist at University College Hospital London retiring in 1956 as chief pharmacist. During the Second World War he ran the hospital’s photographic unit inventing equipment for use in pharmacy. He was also involved in early penicillin extraction, the development of warfarin and of special burns creams for munition workers and air crews. A man of many interests, he was Sunday School Superintendent for the Otford Methodist Church, had his own photographic lab at home. He gave illustrated lectures using glass slides and hosted cine-film shows to local organisations.

Films in this collection:

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Showing 1 to 15 of 28 results.

[The Seasons at Otford]

Date	1944	ID	6150

In this film, Mr. Newman documents a year in Otford, filming the countryside around Otford, as the seasons change over the year.

[Gardens; Etc.]

Date	[ca. 1935]	ID	6087

This is a short film of a family gathering in the garden of the Newman's home, with family members chatting and playing with Margaret, who looks about four years old in this film.

[Whitsun Tea Parties; Beach; Boating; Bike]

Date	May 1935 - June 1935; May 1936 - June 1936	ID	6086

Film of the Newman family with friends and on holiday. Amongst other activities, they have tea with friends on Whit Monday and travel with their daughter to Bournemouth where she plays on the beach.

[Otford Methodist Church Events]

Date	11 July 1935; 18 July 1936; July 1938; 1 July 1939; 10 July 1939	ID	6129

Film depicting an outing to the seaside, interspersed with short 'safety films' such as a Charlie Chaplin sketch, and Popeye. The outing is possibly a trip with the Church to Folkestone, during the summer of 1936, and later in the summer of 1938.

[Opening of Otford Methodist Church]

Date	11 July 1935	ID	6155

This short film appears to show the opening of the new Otford Methodist Church on July 11th 1935. People stand outside the doors of the church and mingle in a garden.

[Westgate Holidays]

Date	7 - 20 June 1936; 19 June - 3 July 1937; 23 July - 6 August 1938; 6 - 26 August 1939	ID	6131

This film documents the Newman family's various holidays to the seaside, including trips to Margate in 1937 and Westgate in 1938.

[Family Scenes and Miniature Railway]

Date	[ca. 1940]	ID	6154

A short film showing Margaret Newman (the film-maker's daughter) playing with a pet budgie and a children's outing to a miniature railway.

[Holidays at Westgate]

Date	[1939; ca. 1940]	ID	6130

Film documenting the Newman family's 3 week holiday in Westgate, Kent in 1939. The film includes scenes of the family at the beach. The second part of this film shows the family during the Whitsun Holiday of 1940. These parts of the film include references to the war and the Battle of Britain.

[Goat Alarm]

Date	[ca. 1944]	ID	6132

A short film made by Mr. Newman in 1944, of Margaret and an evacuee, May, acting out a play that the two girls have made up together, with the help of their pet goat Wendy.

[Children at Play]

Date	[ca. 1944]	ID	6135

This short film shows Margaret Newman, aged about 11 or 12 playing with a friend in the garden, and Mr. Newman in the garden with the rabbit hutch.

[Harvest Scenes]

Date	[ca. 1944]	ID	6152

This film shows the harvest taking place in the countryside during 1944. It includes scenes of farm labourers gathering hay and horse-drawn carts being used to transport it.

Carols of Bethlehem

Date	[ca. 1944]	ID	6156

A film of a church nativity play, called the 'Carols of Bethlehem', from 1944, in which the film-maker's daughter, Margaret Newman, plays an angel.

[Piano Lessons]

Date	March 1943	ID	6134

A short film of Margaret Newman having her piano lesson, aged 11.

[Operation]

Date	[ca. 1945]	ID	6140

Film of a surgical operation, in close-up using both colour and black and white film.

[Nativity Play; Christmas Party; Jumble Sale]

Date	December 1944; 1945	ID	6137

This film shows several Otford Methodist Church events, including Margaret Newman's nativity play from 1944, The Christmas Tableau Party also in 1944, and the Anniversary Jumble sale held in 1945.

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Showing 1 to 15 of 28 results.