Personal and family papers of Lillian Newton

Lillian Allan Newton (1894-1977) was the youngest of the four children of Howard Vincent Newton (1852-1897) and Elizabeth Newton, née Robertson (1862-1954). Howard Newton went to Singapore in 1877 and became Assistant Municipal Engineer. He resigned in 1896 to take up an appointment in Bombay, where he died of cholera the following year. Newton Road, Singapore, is named after him.

Lillian Newton was born at Bridge of Allan, Scotland, on 26 April 1894, during a period when her parents were on leave in the United Kingdom. Some months later the family returned to Singapore. Newton attended the Raffles Girls' School, where she later became a teacher. She and her sisters took part in numerous amateur dramatic performances, and her talent as a dancer won praise in the Singapore press. In 1921-1922 she studied dance in London under Flora Fairbairn of the Legat School, and in 1922 opened her own School of Dancing in Singapore. One of her young pupils, Sally Gilmour, became a leading danseuse with the Ballet Rambert in London. Lillian Newton and her mother left Singapore in 1925.

Papers concerning Lillian Newton and her parents and siblings and additional items accumulated by Miss Newton.

In her later years Lillian Newton became acquainted with Janice Brownfoot, a member of the R.C.S. Library Committee researching the social history of Singapore and Malaya, and through her with the R.C.S. Library. She presented her family papers to the R.C.S. during the 1970s.

Please cite as Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library, Personal and family papers of Lillian Newton, RCMS 108

The R.C.S. Photograph Collection includes Lillian Newton's Singapore photographs, Y30311B.

MSS Addenda, vol. I. A catalogue of the papers by Lillian Newton is with the collection. Indexed

This collection level description was created by RAS using information from the original typescript catalogue.