Frances Emily Newton (4 November 1871 – 11 June 1955) was an English missionary who lived and worked in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

from 1889 until 1938, the last 18 years of which saw the country under

British rule The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. She became Dame of Justice of the

Venerable Order of Saint John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of ...

in 1930, and was a member of the Palestine Women's Council, a consultative committee that advised the British, usually to no avail, on matters affecting women and children. The journalist Owen Tweedy described her as, "comely but podgy—tall & masterful and with the hell of a temper and always having rows."Tweedy diary, May 4, 1927, St Anthony College, Oxford, Middle East Centre, cited in Brown 2009. She was a founding member and honorary secretary of the Palestine Information Centre, referred to by the British ''Arab News Bulletin'' as the "first office to put the Arab view before the British public." Described by

Norman Bentwich Norman de Mattos Bentwich (28 February 1883 – 8 April 1971) was a British barrister and legal academic. He was the British-appointed attorney-general of Mandatory Palestine and a lifelong Zionist. Biography Early life Norman Bentwich was th ...

, the first Attorney-General of Mandatory Palestine, as "incurably anti-Jewish ... and a principal supporter of the Arab cause," she also founded the Anglo-Arab Friendship Committee in 1946, with the aim of opposing

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...

. Living on

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, Newton became known as someone willing to document acts of violence against Arabs suspected of opposing British rule. Dimbleby, Jonathan. ''The Palestinians''. Quartet Books, 1979, p. 76. She found herself in trouble in 1938 after publishing two pamphlets, ''Punitive Methods in Palestine'', which accused the British of atrocities and was denounced in the House of Commons as "all lies," and ''Searchlight on Palestine; Fair Play or Terrorist Methods'', which supported the 1936–1939 Arab revolt. The British issued an exclusion order and she was deported in October 1938. When she died of a heart attack in 1955, a British official said she had, "the exterior of an English woman and the mind of a Palestinian."

Early life and education

Newton was born in Mickleover Manor, near

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, to Charles Edmund Newton, a banker, and his second wife, Mary Henrietta Moore. She and her several sisters were educated at home by a

governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...

.Brown, Clare. (2009) "Newton, Frances Emily," ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press. Newton first visited Palestine in 1888 to see her stepsisters, Constance and Edith Eleanor. Edith was a missionary with the

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

(CMS), and within a year, Newton had signed up with the CMS as a volunteer, learning Arabic and travelling throughout Palestine and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. Her mother died in 1893, leaving Newton sufficient funds to be able to volunteer indefinitely. She was trained in nursing and social work in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, and in missionary work at The Olives in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, the CMS training centre. She left for

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

on 3 October 1895.

World War I

Newton volunteered to serve as a police officer in Leicester Square during the war, but instead she became the secretary of the Syria and Palestine Relief Fund, which had been set up by

Rennie MacInnes The Rt Rev Rennie MacInnes (23 July 1870 – 24 December 1931) was a bishop in the Anglican Church in the first third of the twentieth century. Biography MacInnes was educated at Windlesham House School, Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. H ...

, an Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. She represented the Fund on a committee with the Red Cross and the order of St John of Jerusalem, which led to her recognition by the latter as a lady of grace, and later as a dame of justice. She became acquainted with

T. E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...

and with King Faisal, the latter visiting her at her home on Mount Carmel.

Activism

Jonathan Dimbleby Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby. ...

writes that Newton was scrupulous in keeping notes of the cases she examined. On 22 February 1938 she visited the village of

Igzim Ijzim ( ar, إجزم) was a village in the Haifa Subdistrict of British Mandate Palestine, 19.5 kilometers south of the city, that was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Many of its Palestinian inhabitants ended up as refugees in Je ...

, near Haifa, which had undergone a

collective punishment Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member of that group, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends and neighbors of the perpetrator. Because ind ...

after the assassination of a British officer, a Squadron Leader Alderton. She wrote: "I entered many of the houses and can only say that the havoc which had been wrought was indescribable, and, unless seen with one's own eyes, unbelievable." In sixty houses, she found that doors had been torn from their hinges, mirrors smashed, cupboards emptied, furniture smashed to pieces, bedding and clothing soaked in olive oil. Nine hundred sheep and goats had been rounded up by British soldiers and taken to Haifa. The owners had to buy the animals back for eight shillings a head. A month later, the village's residents left after the British installed 40 police officers, requiring the villagers to pay the cost of their upkeep, which was 90 pounds a month. Rather than wait for the authorities to seize their possessions in lieu of payment, the villagers fled, some of them moving to shelters made of sacks under olive trees in nearby fields.

Anti-Zionism

Newton was criticized for the virulence of her anti-Zionist activity, which stretched to publishing in 1946 a defence of

Mohammad Amin al-Husayni Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mono ...

, the

Grand Mufti of Jerusalem The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is the Sunni Muslim cleric in charge of Jerusalem's Islamic holy places, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The position was created by the British military government led by Ronald Storrs in 1918.See Islamic Leadership i ...

, who had met

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

in 1941. The pamphlet, ''The Truth about the Mufti'', was published by the Anglo-Arab Friendship Society, which she controlled, and excused his collaboration with the Nazis. In her autobiography, ''Fifty Years in Palestine'', Newton blamed the British for the Mufti's relationship with Hitler.

Deportation

Newton exclusion order was issued under Regulation 15 of the Emergency Regulations Act, 1936, as amended by Defence (Amendment) regulations (No. 19), 1938. It was appealed in December 1939 but was upheld by the Chief Secretary of Palestine. Newton appealed again, pleading that her exclusion affected her ability to safeguard her business interests in the country, and the order was eventually lifted in September 1943.

Death

St Simon Zelotes Church, Milner Street - geograph

Newton died in her sleep of a heart attack in 1955 at home in Flat 8, 9 Wilbraham Place,

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. Her funeral was held at

St Simon Zelotes St Simon Zelotes is a conservative evangelical Church of England church in Milner Street, Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north ...

church,

Milner Street Milner Street is a street in Chelsea, London, England. It runs roughly west from Cadogan Square, crossing Ovington Street, Lennox Gardens, and Clabon Mews. St Simon Zelotes is a grade II listed church in Milner Street, built in 1858–59, de ...

, Chelsea, followed by cremation at

Putney Vale Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

. She left 44,675 pounds and two shillings, a substantial sum at the time, all or most of which went to provide medical services for Palestinian refugees in Jordan.Probate, August 31, 1955, CGPLA Eng. & Wales, cited in Brown 2009.

Works

*''Fifty Years in Palestine''. London: Coldharbour Press, Ltd. 1948. *''Palestine: Britain's honour at stake''. 1947.