Sir Frank Aubrey Newsam, (13 November 1893 – 25 April 1964) was a British civil servant notable for his service as Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from 1948 to 1957, although he had been a central figure for many years previously. His strong leadership abilities had a dominating effect on the character of his department, in which he served for all but a few months of his career. His principal interest during this time was the Police service, for which he created the Police Staff College at Bramshill. At his best in a crisis, his contribution to the recovery after the North Sea flood of 1953 was particularly praised.
A man of great energy and drive, Newsam's tendency to be impatient with those who disagreed with him meant that he was not automatically popular with the Home Secretaries under whom he worked. However, his negotiating ability was superb, and he allowed himself time to enjoy the finer things in life. His eventual successor Philip Allen regarded him as operating in the tradition of preserving the liberty of the subject wherever possible; those who had worked under him also noted his highly prized commitment to keeping the politicians in charge of the department out of trouble at all costs.A. W. Brian Simpson, "In the Highest Degree Odious", Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 41-2. Simpson quotes a memorable clerihew about Newsam written by J. M. Ross of the Home Office:Sir Frank NewsamAffected to look gruesome,Which carried great weightWith successive Secretaries of State.
Education and war service Newsam was born in Barbados, where his father William Elias Newsam held a post in the British Colonial Service. He went to school at Harrison College in Barbados, and then won an open scholarship in classics to St John's College, Oxford in 1911. Newsam graduated in 1915 with second classes in each of Mods and Greats,Allen of Abbeydale, "Newsam, Sir Frank Aubrey (1893–1964)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn., January 2008, retrieved 12 June 2009. his failure to take a first being later ascribed to his desire to enjoy life while at university.Austin Strutt, "Newsam, Sir Frank Aubrey (1893–1964)", Dictionary of National Biography 1961–1970, Oxford University Press, 1981, pp. 791-793.
Newsam (who had been a member of the Inns of Court Officers' Training Corps) was then commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Irish Regiment. He saw active service in Ireland and was wounded during the Easter Rising in 1916; during the First World War he served in Belgium, France, the Punjab and Afghanistan.
In September 1918, while a Lieutenant, he was awarded the Military Cross; the citation referred to him going "forward collecting all stragglers and reorganising the line when one of the companies commenced to retire", so restoring the offensive capability of his unit.
Late in the war, Newsam served with the first battalion of the 30th Punjabis in India (in October 1919 he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers). He served again in Ireland after the armistice, but after demobilisation in 1919 he joined the teaching staff at Harrow School under Dr Lionel Ford."Sir Frank Newsam" (obituary), The Times, 27 April 1964, p. 19. Newsam was at Harrow for only a brief period while waiting for the result of the Class I Competition for the Home Civil Service. In July 1920 he was informed that he had passed, and he then joined the Children's Division of the Home Office.
Early career Newsam made his mark in the division, and in 1924 was picked by the then Permanent Secretary Sir John Anderson, as Anderson's own private secretary. Having come to trust Newsam's abilities, Anderson retained him in this post despite Newsam's promotion to principal in 1925. There were some who saw him as a "power behind the throne" in assisting Anderson.
In 1927, Anderson placed Newsam in an even more pivotal post as Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Home Affairs (Home Secretary) – responsible for administering the office of the political head of the department. Newsam held this key position for over five years, assisting Home Secretaries William Joynson-Hicks, J. R. Clynes, Sir Herbert Samuel, and Sir John Gilmour. Especially after Anderson left in 1932 (his successor Sir Russell Scott came from the Treasury with little knowledge of the operation of the Home Office), no other civil servant rivalled his experience. For his part, Newsam learned a great deal about the operations of senior politicians and of Parliament.
Assistant secretary A round of changes in civil service appointments at the Home Office in June 1933 saw Newsam, now promoted"Changes at the Home Office", The Times, 8 June 1933, p. 14. to assistant secretary, take charge of a new division. His first responsibility was to guide into law the Betting and Lotteries Act 1934, but he soon began to handle other sensitive matters. He was also appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1933 Queen's Birthday Honours. Newsam sat on a departmental committee of inquiry into Firearms in 1934,"Definition of Firearms", The Times, 3 February 1934, p. 12. and this was followed by the problem of addressing the disorder caused by fighting between members of the British Union of Fascists and its opponents. Newsam played a large role in devising and then implementing the Public Order Act 1936, which banned all political uniforms and was seen as effective in returning order to the streets.
World War II 1938 saw Newsam moved to take charge of the criminal division, where he began preparations for a major Criminal Justice Bill; however the advancing threat of war led to it being put off (in the event, most of the provisions were enacted in the Criminal Justice Act 1948). Late in 1938, Newsam was selected as Principal Officer in the South Eastern Civil Defence region; this role meant that should war break out, he would be Chief of Staff to the Regional Commissioner. He duly took up his post in September 1939 but after only a few months in Tunbridge Wells, he was recalled to London to take charge of the criminal and aliens divisions, now with the rank of Assistant Under-Secretary of State.
In April 1941 Newsam's appointment to Deputy Under-Secretary of State was announced."The Home Office", The Times, 21 April 1941, p. 5. He was now the second most senior civil servant in the Home OfficeSee, e.g., Guy Liddell's diary entry for 4 August 1943 in which Liddell arranges to inform Newsam about MI5's 'Plan Bunbury', involving blowing up a decoy power station – vol. II, p. 94. and had a special responsibility for security.
Newsam negotiated with the United States how to handle criminal offences committed by American soldiers in the United Kingdom, the agreement being enacted in the United States of America (Visiting Forces) Act 1942. With the Home Office responsible for relations with the Crown Dependencies, Newsam drew up plans for the restoration of life in the Channel Islands once German occupation was ended. Newsam's plans were subsequently put into effect in 1945, and led to a long association with the islands where he helped reform constitutions and develop their legal and administrative systems.
Having been in charge of internment of enemy aliens and suspected fascist sympathisers under Defence Regulation 18B, Newsam had in 1944 to consider the vexed question of what to do with the 'Red Book' containing the membership list from Archibald Maule Ramsay's 'Right Club', after Ramsay was released from detention. After discussing the question with a colleague, the idea came up that it may be necessary to illegally destroy the book and then take the chance that Ramsay would get only token damages out of any legal action that might ensue. In the end, the book was returned to Ramsay.Richard Griffiths, "Patriotism Perverted", Constable, 1998, pp. 309-310.
Newsam was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours.
Policing It was towards the end of the war that Newsam's particular interest in the police force began to take shape. His first task was to reform the large number of very small police forces, as many municipal boroughs that were not especially large had a separate constabulary. Wartime powers had forced some to amalgamate, but Newsam needed to go further. Conscious that a Whitehall takeover was feared, in May 1945 he spoke to the conference of the Chief Constables' Association to reassure them that there would be no regional or national police forces."News in brief", The Times, 1 June 1945, p. 2. He eventually drafted the Police Act 1946 which abolished nearly all the borough police forces outside County boroughs, and allowed for more amalgamations. Once the Act was passed, Newsam again reassured the police that there was no question of regionalisation or nationalisation because "such an idea is an anathema to the Home Office"."No State Police Force", The Times, 27 September 1946, p. 2.
Meanwhile, Newsam also looked into the whole policing service from 1944, and became personally committed to the idea of establishing a national staff college for the police.See the white paper "Higher Training for the Police Service in England and Wales" (Cmnd. 7070), published 20 March 1947. He saw that the project found the land needed for its buildings (at Bramshill, near Hartley Wintney in Hampshire), and became the founder chairman of the Board of Governors of the Police Staff College in 1947."Police College Board of Governors", The Times, 25 August 1947, p. 2. He retained this role for the rest of his career.
Permanent secretary On 10 August 1948 it was announced that Sir Alexander Maxwell was to retire at the end of September, and that Newsam had been appointed to follow him as permanent secretary at the Home Office."Sir Alexander Maxwell To Retire", The Times, 11 August 1948, p. 4. In effect this was a delayed promotion; Newsam was already 54, and might easily have reached the rank earlier. At first he had to deal with Chuter Ede as Home Secretary, with whom he had an uneasy relationship (Ede was believed not to trust Newsam's judgment). With Ede maintaining control over the department, Newsam had to deal with routine matters including presenting evidence to the Royal Commission on Betting, Lotteries and Gaming."Growth of Pool Betting", The Times, 21 July 1949, p. 3.
However Newsam did make an important contribution to British relations with Northern Ireland after Taoiseach John A. Costello revealed his government's intention to declare Ireland a Republic. In discussions in December 1948, Newsam first suggested passing a law declaring that Northern Ireland could not be removed from the United Kingdom without the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland. Such a provision was included in the Ireland Act 1949.Ronan Fanning, "The Response of the London and Belfast Governments to the Declaration of the Republic of Ireland, 1948–49", International Affairs, vol. 58 no. 1 (Winter 1981-2), pp. 95–114, esp. p. 107. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1950 New Year Honours.
Conservative government