William Frederick NEWBERRY - 1875 to 1920

[corisande]

I am researching something in Ireland called the Cairo Gang Murders, in which the IRA shot a number of British officers across Dublin on the morning of 21 Nov 1920

This link is my write up on the Cairo Gang and the murders

I am looking for help here on one of the men shot that day, he was  William Frederick Newberry (this link is to my page on him)

Capt W F Newberry, joined the Royal Marines, then onto Sussex Regt, he retired in 1908 and moved to Canada he was a registered barrister and a expert in military law he was a court martial officer after coming out of retirement.

To paraphrase the points on his life from that web page

• 1875 born Devon, England, son of W. C. and Myra Newberry, of Exmouth
• 1898 Marriage Jul/Sep in Poole vol 5a, p 543 (probably to Ellen Ford)
• Joined British Army before 1901 
• 1908 retired from British Army
• went to Canada and was a barrister
• 1914 approx returned to UK and was in Army there during WW1in non combat jobs
• went to Dublin around 1919 and was a Courts Martial officer
• 1920 shot by IRA on 21 Nov

Any help with his life in Canada very welcome

[*Sandra*]

Willian F Newberry age 37 years seems to be listed on Canadian Passenger List 25th April 1913 on the Vessel:- Mongolian from Liverpool. England to Halifax, Nova Scotia. He had never been in Canada before. Religion:- C of E. Travelling to Winnipeg. Occupation:- Barrister of Law.

[corisande]

Thank you very much for that confirmation that he went to Canada

So much on the web these days is copy and paste, so I try to check to make sure that he did go to Canada when I see it reported.

He obviously did not hang around in Winnipeg too long as he was back in UK when war broke out, and stayed on to do the court martial work in Dublin, that led to his eventual murder.

[JDC]

Hi Corisande,

Since your fella seems to have practiced law in Manitoba, you may want to contact the  Law Society of Manitoba in Winniepeg to see if they have any info on him. Their web addy is http://www.lawsociety.mb.ca/. He would have at least have gone thru the process of becoming a Member of the Bar there if he practiced law in Manitoba. Hope this helps,

JDC

[corisande]

JDC

Thanks for that, I have emailed them now, and see if they can add anything about his time in Canada

[corisande]

Never got a reply from those lawyers in Manitoba.

However it may be he never stopped in Winnipeg that long. I have now found his wife and child

His wife Ellen Newberry and daughter, Doris, arrive in Canada on the Corinthian on 5 Oct 1913, and are bound for Fernie, B.C.

 so it would appear that Winnipeg did not work out. But he was back inUK at outbreak of war in Oct 1914. So it is probably too short a period in Canada to ahve left any footprints.

[JDC]

Hi Corisande,

Since he arrived in Canada in April 1913 and returned to England in 1914, I think you are right about it not working out for him and not leaving many footprints. Looking at the dates, he was in Canada for about year or less. He likely didn't aquire any work to keep him in Canada and was running low on money and returned home as a result. Or, he was patriotic and returned to defend his home country and the commonwealth. It sounds like his wife and daughter were closely following him, and met him in Fernie, BC. I am assumming they returned to England with him.

JDC

[corisande]

I think they returned to England with him.

His wife, pregnant at the time was with him when he was murdered in Dublin in 1920. The trauma caused her to miscarry and she died a few weeks later.

However his first wife was 45 then, so I am not certain whether he remarried or not. It was certainly his original wife who went to Canada in 1913.

What, to me, is one of the fascinating things about genealogy is how you can piece together peoples lives from nearly 100 years ago, just from the crumbs that have been left on official records, and can be accessed online.

[HowardS]

Hi Corisande, I know it's a while since you last posted about William Frederick Newberry but are you still working on this?
I have been doing some research about his life and would like to know more about when he arrived in Dublin and his wife/baby who died. If you have any more up to date information, it would be good to hear.
Howard