Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/345

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

NEWMAN, FRANCIS (d. 1660), New England statesman, emigrated to New Hampshire in 1638, and subsequently removed to Newhaven, Connecticut. In his barn in the latter place, in June 1639, was formulated the compact or civil constitution by which the colony for many years was ruled. He was made ensign of the trained band in June 1642, a surveyor of roads and bridges on 21 Oct. 1644, deputy and lieutenant of artillery on 31 March 1645, interim secretary on 10 March 1646, deputy for jurisdiction and secretary on 18 Oct. 1647, and magistrate on 25 May 1653. In 1653 he formed one of the deputation that waited on Governor Peter Stuyvesant of New Netherlands, to request satisfaction for the injuries inflicted by the Dutch upon the colony. On 5 July 1654 he was appointed commissioner of the united colonies, and on 26 May 1658 succeeded to the governorship of Newhaven. In September 1659 one Henry Tomlinson of Stratford molested Newman, and even caused him to be arrested at Connecticut, as a protest against a new impost on wines and liquors. The general court of Newhaven made Tomlinson humbly apologise and give security for future good behaviour. Newman died at Newhaven on 18 Nov. 1660, and was awarded a public funeral in recognition of his great services to the colony. He left a widow.

[Savage's Genealog. Dict. iii. 274; New Haven Colonial Records, 1638–65, ed. C. J. Hoadly; Appleton's Cyclop. of Amer. Biog.]

G. G.

NEWMAN, JEREMIAH WHITAKER (1759–1839), medical and miscellaneous writer, son of Arthur Newman, surgeon, of Ringwood, Hampshire, born in 1759, became a member of the Corporation of Surgeons, and was in practice at Ringwood in 1783. In consequence of ill-health he removed to Dover, where he made the acquaintance of Sir Thomas Mantell [q. v.] and his wife, and resided for many years in their house. He was a delightful companion at all times, full of anecdote and energy, intelligence and originality. On 9 Dec. 1790 he was admitted an extra-licentiate of the College of Physicians of London (Munk, Coll. of Phys. 2nd edit. ii. 414). He was a favourite with the eccentric Messenger Monsey [q. v.], the resident physician at Chelsea Hospital, of whom he wrote (but did not publish) an amusing memoir. He married and settled on his own estate at Ringwood, where he died on 27 July 1839.

His principal work, published anonymously, was ‘The Lounger's Commonplace Book, or Miscellaneous Collections in History, Criticism, Biography, Poetry, and Romance,’ 3rd edit. 4 vols., London, 1805–7, 8vo; and 2 vols., London, 1838, 8vo. He also wrote ‘A Short Inquiry into the Merits of Solvents, so far as it may be necessary to compare them with the Operation of Lithotomy,’ London, 1781, 8vo; and ‘An Essay on the Principles and Manners of the Medical Profession; with some Occasional Remarks on the Use and Abuse of Medicines.’ These two tracts were republished in 1789 under the title of ‘Medical Essays, with Additions.’

[Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816, p. 249; Gent. Mag. 1839 ii. 323, 1846 i. 593, ii. 153, 1853 i. 226; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. ix. 258, 3rd ser. v. 500 n.; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]

T. C.

NEWMAN, JOHN (1677?–1741), presbyterian minister, was born in Oxfordshire about 1677. He was educated by Samuel Chapman, the ejected vicar of Yoxford, Suffolk, and at the nonconformist academy of John Woodhouse, at Sheriff Hales, Shropshire. In 1696 he became assistant to Joseph Read, presbyterian minister at Dyott Street, Bloomsbury, but became in the same year assistant to Nathaniel Taylor [q. v.] at Salters' Hall. He was ordained on 20 Oct. 1697, though apparently not of age, and continued as assistant to Taylor's successor, William Tong [q. v.], till in 1716 he was chosen co-pastor. He was a subscriber in 1719 at Salters' Hall [see Bradbury, Thomas]. In 1724 he succeeded Benjamin Robinson [q. v.] as one of the merchants' Tuesday lecturers at Salters' Hall. After Tong's death he was elected (1728) a trustee of the foundations of Daniel Williams, D.D. He long enjoyed great repute as a preacher, using no notes, and retaining the puritan style of laboured and lengthy discourses. His theology was of the old stamp; he was unaffected by the doctrinal changes of dissent. He gave great attention to the pastoral side of his ministry. After a few days' illness, he died on 25 July 1741, in his sixty-fifth year. He was buried at Bunhill Fields on 31 July; Philip Doddridge [q. v.], his intimate friend, delivered the funeral address; his funeral sermon was preached on 2 Aug. by John Barker (1682–1762) [q. v.], his successor. His portrait is in Dr. Williams's library, Gordon Square, London; an engraving from it, by Hopwood, is given in Wilson. His son, Samuel Newman (d. 31 May 1735, aged 28), was his assistant from 1728.

Wilson gives a list of nine of his separate sermons (1702–35), including funeral sermons for Taylor (1702) and Tong (1727). To these may be added a funeral sermon for Richard Mount (1722) and ‘The Importance of knowing Jesus Christ,’ &c., 1728, 8vo (two sermons).