Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ralph Fredric Newman is my Great-Great Grandfather (My Grandmother, Judith McCarthy’s, Grandfather).  Ralph Newman was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on 19th February, 1898, to George Gough Newman and Alice Jane Newman (nee May). Ralph Fredric Newman had an older brother Leo Gough Newman who died when he was four days old.

Ralph Newman attended Unley High school and he continued on to the University of Adelaide to become an Articled Law Clerk in Adelaide, South Australia.

Ralph Fredric Newman enlisted for the war on 19th May, 1917 (at nineteen years and four months of age) and went into training to be part of the 10th Field Ambulance.

In his Service Record, Ralph Newman is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighed 140 pounds, had dark complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair.  His religious denomination is listed as Church of England.

Ralph Newman embarked on the HMAT A60 “Aeneas” in Melbourne on the 30th October, 1917 After three weeks at sea the ship stopped at Cape Town, South Africa, to get supplies and continue to Devonport and there “received a great welcome and fruit etc. was bestowed upon us in abundance by the people” and one month back on the ship later, on the 29th November, 1917, on board the ship, he became an acting Quartermaster Corporal without pay.

On the 22th December, 1917 he was admitted to hospital due to mumps at sea and by the 26th December, 1917 he had overcome his illness and returned to the position of private.

The “Aeneas” arrived at Devonport, England, the following day where Ralph Newman got off the ship and headed to Plymouth.  From England he continued on to France and served in the 10th Field Ambulance for the duration of the First World War. 

At the end of the war, Ralph Newman embarked the “Anchises” in Devonport, England, on 28th February, 1919 and arrived in Port Adelaide, Australia, on 11th April, 1919, he had served for one year and 355 after he enlisted for the Australian imperial force.

During the war Ralph received two medals including a victory medal (No. 206 3H) and a British war medal (No. 21182).

After the war, Ralph Newman married Violet Vera Rice on the 10th December, 1921 and had three children, including my Great Grandfather, Douglas Ralph born in 1922, Kingsley and Yvonne.  Ralph became a judge in the Adelaide Juvenile Court and became an honorary SM (Stipendiary Magistrate) in 1933. He was also Chairman of the Man Power Appeal and also a Judge in the Children's court he worked as Her Majesty's Counsellor. He was a President of the Commonwealth Club and Vice President of the Law Society of SA.

In World War II Ralph Newman was a Judge Advocate in the Legal Corps. He was a deputy grand master of the grand lodge of the free masons of SA and was the original president of the board of benevolence which established the Masonic Memorial Village at Somerton Park.  The Ralph Newman building in the Masonic Memorial Village was named after him.

Ralph Fredric Newman passed away at the age of seventy on the 18th May, 1968 in Adelaide, after a minor operation.  He is now buried at Centennial Park Cemetery East Garden Area RB E34 30.

Bibliography-

War documents sourced from AWM

Post war information sourced from National Library of Australia; Canberra

Diary Quotation from diary kept by Mr. R.C. Werner secretary of the 10th Field Ambulance (association)

Cemetary information and Image from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102085282/ralph-frederick-newman

Photos sourced from private collection of Judith Margret McCarthy & documents from National Library of Australia.