Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall
Encyclopedia
Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Cyril Louis Norton Newall, 1st Baron Newall GCB
OM
GCMG
CBE
AM
(15 February 1886 – 30 November 1963), was a British soldier and airman, who headed the Royal Air Force
as the Chief of the Air Staff during the early part of the Second World War before serving as the sixth Governor-General of New Zealand
from 1941 to 1946.
Born in India in 1886, Newall joined the Army
in 1905, and after training at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
he was commissioned as a junior officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He saw active service in the North West Frontier before transferring to the 2nd Gurkha Rifles. He learnt to fly in 1911 whilst on leave. He gained his Royal Flying Corps
'wings' at the Central Flying School
, Upavon
, in 1913, just before the outbreak of the First World War. Initially he was on No. 1 Squadron
before being appointed to command No. 12 Squadron
in 1915 and No. 9 Wing in 1916 and No. 41 Wing
the following year, then served in staff positions in the RAF through the 1920s. From 1931 to 1934 he was Air Officer Commanding the RAF's Middle East Command
before returning to the Air Force Board as the Air Member for Supply and Organisation
. Newall was appointed Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) in 1937.
As CAS, he originally supported the conventional pre-war views that a strong strategic bomber force was essential to the war against Germany, that only limited fighter defence against heavy bombers was possible, and that close air support of ground forces was a waste of the RAF's resources. He did, however, support the rapid expansion of the RAF's fighter forces, and during the Battle of France
supported RAF Fighter Command
's requests to retain fighter squadrons in Britain for home defence rather than send them across the Channel. By the late summer of 1940, he had recognised that strategic bombing was, for the time being, ineffective, and was encouraging the use of bomber forces in a tactical role against German invasion preparations.
Widely criticised for his leadership and having lost the support of Winston Churchill
, however, Newall was replaced as CAS in late October 1940, with Charles Portal taking his place. The following year he was appointed Governor-General of New Zealand, holding office until 1946. On his retirement he was raised to the peerage
as Baron Newall
, and on his death in 1963 was succeeded in the title by his son Francis
.
in India on 15 February 1886, the only son of a British army officer and his wife. After being educated at Bedford School
, he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. His fellow students there included Lord Gort
, who would later serve as Chief of the Imperial General Staff opposite Newall as Chief of the Air Staff. After leaving Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 16 August 1905. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 18 November 1908, and transferred to the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles in September 1909. He then served on the North-West Frontier
, where he first encountered his future colleague Hugh Dowding; at an exercise in 1909, Dowding's artillery section ambushed Newall's Gurkhas whilst they were still breakfasting.
Newall began to turn towards a career in aviation in 1911, when he learned to fly in a Bristol Biplane
at Larkhill
whilst on leave in England. This made him one of the first qualified pilots in England, holding the 144th certificate issued by the Royal Aero Club
. He trained at the Central Flying School
in 1913, then instructed there, and had been preparing to set up a training establishment in India when the First World War broke out.
as a flight commander, to serve with No. 1 Squadron. On 24 March 1915 he was promoted to Major and appointed to command No. 12 Squadron, which served in France from September onwards.
On taking command of the squadron, he chose to stop flying personally in order to concentrate on administration, a decision which was regarded dismissively by his men. Relations were strained until January 1916, when he demonstrated a remarkable degree of physical courage by walking into a burning bomb store to try and control the fire. He was awarded the Albert Medal
for this act, on the personal recommendation of General Hugh Trenchard, and the following month was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and given command of a training wing in England.
In December 1916 he took command of No. 9 Wing in France, a long-range bomber and reconnaissance formation, and in October 1917 took command of the newly formed No. 41 Wing. This was upgraded as the 8th Brigade
in December, with Newall promoted accordingly to Brigadier-General. During 1918, it joined the Independent Bombing Force, which was the main strategic bombing
arm of the newly formed Royal Air Force
. In June 1918 Newall was appointed the Deputy Commander of the Independent Bombing Force, serving under Trenchard
.
, and returned to administrative duties. Between 1919 and 1925 he held the posts of deputy director of personnel, and the Deputy Commandant of the apprentices' technical training school
. He married May Weddell in 1922; she died in September 1924, and he remarried the following year to Olive Foster, an American woman. He had three children with Foster, a son and two daughters.
He was promoted to Air Commodore on 1 January 1925, and that year took command of the newly-formed Auxiliary Air Force. In December, he was appointed to a League of Nations
disarmament committee. On 12 April 1926, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
and Director of Operations and Intelligence. He stood down at the start of February 1931.
Following his service on the Air Staff, he was given his first operational command posting in fifteen years, as Air Officer Commanding in the Middle East. He then returned to the Air Ministry at the start of 1935, where he was responsible for overseeing the supply and organisation of the RAF during the beginnings of the pre-war expansion and rearmament.
Philosophically, Newall remained a close follower of Trenchard during the interwar period; his time in the Independent Bombing Force had left him convinced that strategic bombing
was an exceptionally powerful weapon, and one that could not effectively be defended against. In this, he was a supporter of the standard doctrine of the day, which suggested that the destructive power of a bomber force was sufficiently great that it could cripple an industrial economy in short order, and that so merely its presence could potentially serve as an effective deterrent.
. The promotion was unexpected; of the prospective candidates mooted for the job, Newall has been widely seen by historians as the least gifted. The most prominent candidate was Hugh Dowding, the head of RAF Fighter Command
and senior in rank to Newall by three months, who had been informally told by Ellington in 1936 that he was expected to be appointed as the new CAS. The decision was taken by the Air Minister
, Viscount Swinton
, without consulting Ellington; it has been suggested he was heavily influenced by the views of the still-influential Trenchard, who had a long-standing personal dislike of Dowding, and who objected to his opposition to the strategic bombing doctrine in favour of fighter defence.
During 1936 and 1937, the Air Staff had been fighting with the Cabinet over the rearmament plans; the Staff wanted a substantial bomber force and only minor increases in fighters, whilst the Minister for Defence Co-ordination, Sir Thomas Inskip, successfully pushed for a greater role for the fighter force. Newall was promoted during the middle of this debate, and proved perhaps more flexible than might have been expected. In 1938, he supported sharp increases in aircraft production, including double-shift working and duplication of factories, and pushed for the creation of a dedicated organisation to repair and refit damaged aircraft. He supported expenditure on the new, heavily-armed, Hurricane
and Spitfire
fighters, essential to re-equip Fighter Command.
He even began to distance himself from the more absolute forms of the bomber philosophy, noting to the Minister for Air that "no one can say with absolute certainty that a nation can be knocked out from the air, because no-one has yet attempted it". Discussing plans for reacting to a war with Italy, in early 1939, he opposed a French proposal to force them to surrender by the use of heavy bombing raids against the north, arguing that it would be unlikely to force the country out of the war without the need for ground combat.
Newall was still CAS at the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939. His main contribution to the war effort was his sometimes-successful resistance to the transfer of fighter squadrons to aid the collapsing French
. While he was able to prevent ten squadrons being redeployed to France during June 1940, thus preserving a large portion of the fighter forces that would become crucial during the Battle of Britain
, his opposition was seen as intransigence by his superiors. He was promoted to Marshal of the Royal Air Force
on 4 October 1940, ironically not three weeks before he stepped down on 24 October; he was, however, able to effectively nominate his successor, choosing Air Chief Marshal
Sir Charles Portal
.
, a post he would hold for the remainder of the war. His time there was mostly quiet – described by one biographer as "a nice long rest" – but some tensions did flare up; shortly after his arrival, Newall became the last Governor-General to refuse to follow the advice of his cabinet. At the time, New Zealand courts still retained the power to pass sentences of capital
and corporal punishment
, though this had been effectively suspended by the Labour government since the 1935 general election
. Newell was presented with a government recommendation to remit four prisoners sentenced to be flogged, but refused to do so. He argued that it was not constitutionally proper for the government to ignore Parliament's decision to set punishments for crimes; if the government did not intend convicts to be flogged, then they should repeal the legislation allowing it. The Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, refused to accept this response, but avoided pressing the point; in the end, a compromise was reached where Newall remitted the sentences but the government undertook to repeal the legislation.
Following his return from New Zealand in 1946, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Newall
, of Clifton upon Dunsmoor, in the county of Warwick. Lord Newall received numerous other honours between then and his death in 1963, at which time his son Francis
inherited his title.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Marshal of the Royal Air Force is the highest rank in the Royal Air Force. In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff, and to retired Chiefs of the Air Staff, who were promoted to it on their last day of service. Promotions to the rank have ceased...
Cyril Louis Norton Newall, 1st Baron Newall GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
OM
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
AM
Albert Medal (lifesaving)
The Albert Medal for Lifesaving was a British medal awarded to recognise the saving of life. It has since been replaced by the George Cross.The Albert Medal was first instituted by a Royal Warrant on 7 March 1866 and discontinued in 1971 with the last two awards promulgated in the London Gazette of...
(15 February 1886 – 30 November 1963), was a British soldier and airman, who headed the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
as the Chief of the Air Staff during the early part of the Second World War before serving as the sixth Governor-General of New Zealand
Governor-General of New Zealand
The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state....
from 1941 to 1946.
Born in India in 1886, Newall joined the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
in 1905, and after training at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
he was commissioned as a junior officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He saw active service in the North West Frontier before transferring to the 2nd Gurkha Rifles. He learnt to fly in 1911 whilst on leave. He gained his Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
'wings' at the Central Flying School
Central Flying School
The Central Flying School is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 it is the longest existing flying training school.-History:...
, Upavon
RAF Upavon
The former Royal Air Force Station Upavon, more commonly known as RAF Upavon, was a grass airfield, military flight training school, and administrative headquarters of the Royal Air Force....
, in 1913, just before the outbreak of the First World War. Initially he was on No. 1 Squadron
No. 1 Squadron RAF
No. 1 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It operated the Harrier GR9 from RAF Cottesmore until 28 January 2011.The squadron motto is In omnibus princeps , appropriate for the RAF's oldest squadron and one that has been involved in almost every major British military operation since...
before being appointed to command No. 12 Squadron
No. 12 Squadron RAF
No. 12 Squadron of the Royal Air Force currently operates the Tornado GR4 from RAF Lossiemouth.-History:No. 12 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed in February 1915 from a flight of No. 1 Squadron RFC at Netheravon. The squadron moved to France in September 1915 and operated a variety of aircraft...
in 1915 and No. 9 Wing in 1916 and No. 41 Wing
No. 41 Wing RAF
Number 41 Wing of the Royal Flying Corps , later the Royal Air Force , conducted strategic bombing operations against Germany during World War I....
the following year, then served in staff positions in the RAF through the 1920s. From 1931 to 1934 he was Air Officer Commanding the RAF's Middle East Command
RAF Middle East Command
Middle East Command was a command of the Royal Air Force formed on December 29, 1941 by renaming Headquarters RAF Middle East. During the early part of the Second World War the Command was one of the three major British service commands in the Middle East, the others being the British Army's...
before returning to the Air Force Board as the Air Member for Supply and Organisation
Air Member for Supply and Organisation
The Air Member for Supply and Organisation was the senior Royal Air Force officer responsible for procurement matters: he was a member of the Air Force Board...
. Newall was appointed Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) in 1937.
As CAS, he originally supported the conventional pre-war views that a strong strategic bomber force was essential to the war against Germany, that only limited fighter defence against heavy bombers was possible, and that close air support of ground forces was a waste of the RAF's resources. He did, however, support the rapid expansion of the RAF's fighter forces, and during the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
supported RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of three functional commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War, gaining recognition in the Battle of Britain. The Command continued until 17 November 1943, when...
's requests to retain fighter squadrons in Britain for home defence rather than send them across the Channel. By the late summer of 1940, he had recognised that strategic bombing was, for the time being, ineffective, and was encouraging the use of bomber forces in a tactical role against German invasion preparations.
Widely criticised for his leadership and having lost the support of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, however, Newall was replaced as CAS in late October 1940, with Charles Portal taking his place. The following year he was appointed Governor-General of New Zealand, holding office until 1946. On his retirement he was raised to the peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
as Baron Newall
Baron Newall
Baron Newall, of Clifton-upon-Dunsmoor in the County of Warwick, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1946 for Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Cyril Newall. He was Chief of the Air Staff between 1937 and 1940 and Governor-General of New Zealand between 1941 and 1946...
, and on his death in 1963 was succeeded in the title by his son Francis
Francis Newall, 2nd Baron Newall
Francis Storer Eaton Newall, 2nd Baron Newall DL is the son of Marshal of the Royal Air Force and Governor-General of New Zealand Sir Cyril Newall and his wife Olivia, and has served as a soldier, staff officer, diplomat, politician, legislator, businessman, and representative of the Crown in a...
.
Early life
Newall was born at MussoorieMussoorie
Mussoorie is a city and a municipal board in the Dehradun District of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is located about 35 km from the state capital of Dehradun and 290 km north from the national capital of New Delhi...
in India on 15 February 1886, the only son of a British army officer and his wife. After being educated at Bedford School
Bedford School
Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Modern School or Bedford High School or Old Bedford School in Bedford, TexasBedford School is an HMC independent school for boys located in the town of Bedford, England, United Kingdom...
, he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. His fellow students there included Lord Gort
John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort
Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, VC, GCB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, MVO, MC , was a British and Anglo-Irish soldier. As a young officer in World War I he won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of the Canal du Nord. During the 1930s he served as Chief of the...
, who would later serve as Chief of the Imperial General Staff opposite Newall as Chief of the Air Staff. After leaving Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 16 August 1905. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 18 November 1908, and transferred to the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles in September 1909. He then served on the North-West Frontier
North-West Frontier (military history)
The North-West Frontier was the most difficult area, from a military point of view, of the former British India in the Indian sub-continent. It remains the frontier of present-day Pakistan, extending from the Pamir Knot in the north to the Koh-i-Malik Siah in the west, and separating the...
, where he first encountered his future colleague Hugh Dowding; at an exercise in 1909, Dowding's artillery section ambushed Newall's Gurkhas whilst they were still breakfasting.
Newall began to turn towards a career in aviation in 1911, when he learned to fly in a Bristol Biplane
Bristol Biplane Type 'T'
The Bristol Biplane Type 'T', sometimes called the Challenger-Dickson Biplane, was a derivative of the Bristol Boxkite. It was built in 1911 by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company. It was designed as a cross-country racing aircraft.-Development:...
at Larkhill
Larkhill
Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It is a short distance west of Durrington village proper and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury....
whilst on leave in England. This made him one of the first qualified pilots in England, holding the 144th certificate issued by the Royal Aero Club
Royal Aero Club
The Royal Aero Club is the national co-ordinating body for Air Sport in the United Kingdom.The Aero Club was founded in 1901 by Frank Hedges Butler, his daughter Vera and the Hon Charles Rolls , partly inspired by the Aero Club of France...
. He trained at the Central Flying School
Central Flying School
The Central Flying School is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 it is the longest existing flying training school.-History:...
in 1913, then instructed there, and had been preparing to set up a training establishment in India when the First World War broke out.
World War I
On the outbreak of war, Newall was in England. On 12 September, he was given the temporary rank of Captain, and attached to the Royal Flying CorpsRoyal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
as a flight commander, to serve with No. 1 Squadron. On 24 March 1915 he was promoted to Major and appointed to command No. 12 Squadron, which served in France from September onwards.
On taking command of the squadron, he chose to stop flying personally in order to concentrate on administration, a decision which was regarded dismissively by his men. Relations were strained until January 1916, when he demonstrated a remarkable degree of physical courage by walking into a burning bomb store to try and control the fire. He was awarded the Albert Medal
Albert Medal (lifesaving)
The Albert Medal for Lifesaving was a British medal awarded to recognise the saving of life. It has since been replaced by the George Cross.The Albert Medal was first instituted by a Royal Warrant on 7 March 1866 and discontinued in 1971 with the last two awards promulgated in the London Gazette of...
for this act, on the personal recommendation of General Hugh Trenchard, and the following month was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and given command of a training wing in England.
In December 1916 he took command of No. 9 Wing in France, a long-range bomber and reconnaissance formation, and in October 1917 took command of the newly formed No. 41 Wing. This was upgraded as the 8th Brigade
VIII Brigade RAF
The VIII Brigade or 8th Brigade of the Royal Flying Corps and from 1 April 1918, Royal Air Force, was a bomber formation which carried out air raids against Germany in World War I....
in December, with Newall promoted accordingly to Brigadier-General. During 1918, it joined the Independent Bombing Force, which was the main strategic bombing
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
arm of the newly formed Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. In June 1918 Newall was appointed the Deputy Commander of the Independent Bombing Force, serving under Trenchard
Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard GCB OM GCVO DSO was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force...
.
Between the wars
After the war, Newall joined the RAF permanently as a group captainGroup Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks above wing commander and immediately below air commodore...
, and returned to administrative duties. Between 1919 and 1925 he held the posts of deputy director of personnel, and the Deputy Commandant of the apprentices' technical training school
No. 1 School of Technical Training
No.1 School of Technical Training is the Royal Air Force's aircraft engineering school, based at RAF Halton from 1919 to 1993, as the Home of the Aircraft Apprentice scheme...
. He married May Weddell in 1922; she died in September 1924, and he remarried the following year to Olive Foster, an American woman. He had three children with Foster, a son and two daughters.
He was promoted to Air Commodore on 1 January 1925, and that year took command of the newly-formed Auxiliary Air Force. In December, he was appointed to a League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
disarmament committee. On 12 April 1926, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
The Deputy Chief of the Air Staff was a senior appointment in the Royal Air Force. The incumbent was the deputy to the Chief of the Air Staff. The post existed from 1918 to 1968 or 1969...
and Director of Operations and Intelligence. He stood down at the start of February 1931.
Following his service on the Air Staff, he was given his first operational command posting in fifteen years, as Air Officer Commanding in the Middle East. He then returned to the Air Ministry at the start of 1935, where he was responsible for overseeing the supply and organisation of the RAF during the beginnings of the pre-war expansion and rearmament.
Philosophically, Newall remained a close follower of Trenchard during the interwar period; his time in the Independent Bombing Force had left him convinced that strategic bombing
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
was an exceptionally powerful weapon, and one that could not effectively be defended against. In this, he was a supporter of the standard doctrine of the day, which suggested that the destructive power of a bomber force was sufficiently great that it could cripple an industrial economy in short order, and that so merely its presence could potentially serve as an effective deterrent.
Chief of the Air Staff
In late 1937, Newall was appointed as Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), the military head of the RAF, in succession to Sir Edward EllingtonEdward Leonard Ellington
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Leonard Ellington GCB, CMG, CBE was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force...
. The promotion was unexpected; of the prospective candidates mooted for the job, Newall has been widely seen by historians as the least gifted. The most prominent candidate was Hugh Dowding, the head of RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of three functional commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War, gaining recognition in the Battle of Britain. The Command continued until 17 November 1943, when...
and senior in rank to Newall by three months, who had been informally told by Ellington in 1936 that he was expected to be appointed as the new CAS. The decision was taken by the Air Minister
Secretary of State for Air
The Secretary of State for Air was a cabinet level British position. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. It was created on 10 January 1919 to manage the Royal Air Force...
, Viscount Swinton
Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton
Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton GBE, CH, MC, PC , known as Philip Lloyd-Greame until 1924 and as The Viscount Swinton from 1935 until 1955, was a prominent British Conservative politician from the 1920s until the 1950s.-Background and early life:Born as Philip Lloyd-Graeme, he was the...
, without consulting Ellington; it has been suggested he was heavily influenced by the views of the still-influential Trenchard, who had a long-standing personal dislike of Dowding, and who objected to his opposition to the strategic bombing doctrine in favour of fighter defence.
During 1936 and 1937, the Air Staff had been fighting with the Cabinet over the rearmament plans; the Staff wanted a substantial bomber force and only minor increases in fighters, whilst the Minister for Defence Co-ordination, Sir Thomas Inskip, successfully pushed for a greater role for the fighter force. Newall was promoted during the middle of this debate, and proved perhaps more flexible than might have been expected. In 1938, he supported sharp increases in aircraft production, including double-shift working and duplication of factories, and pushed for the creation of a dedicated organisation to repair and refit damaged aircraft. He supported expenditure on the new, heavily-armed, Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
and Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
fighters, essential to re-equip Fighter Command.
He even began to distance himself from the more absolute forms of the bomber philosophy, noting to the Minister for Air that "no one can say with absolute certainty that a nation can be knocked out from the air, because no-one has yet attempted it". Discussing plans for reacting to a war with Italy, in early 1939, he opposed a French proposal to force them to surrender by the use of heavy bombing raids against the north, arguing that it would be unlikely to force the country out of the war without the need for ground combat.
Newall was still CAS at the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939. His main contribution to the war effort was his sometimes-successful resistance to the transfer of fighter squadrons to aid the collapsing French
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
. While he was able to prevent ten squadrons being redeployed to France during June 1940, thus preserving a large portion of the fighter forces that would become crucial during the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
, his opposition was seen as intransigence by his superiors. He was promoted to Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Marshal of the Royal Air Force is the highest rank in the Royal Air Force. In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff, and to retired Chiefs of the Air Staff, who were promoted to it on their last day of service. Promotions to the rank have ceased...
on 4 October 1940, ironically not three weeks before he stepped down on 24 October; he was, however, able to effectively nominate his successor, choosing Air Chief Marshal
Air Chief Marshal
Air chief marshal is a senior 4-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...
Sir Charles Portal
Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford KG GCB OM DSO & Bar MC was a senior Royal Air Force officer and an advocate of strategic bombing...
.
Later life
In February 1941, Newall was appointed Governor-General of New ZealandGovernor-General of New Zealand
The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state....
, a post he would hold for the remainder of the war. His time there was mostly quiet – described by one biographer as "a nice long rest" – but some tensions did flare up; shortly after his arrival, Newall became the last Governor-General to refuse to follow the advice of his cabinet. At the time, New Zealand courts still retained the power to pass sentences of capital
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
and corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
, though this had been effectively suspended by the Labour government since the 1935 general election
New Zealand general election, 1935
The 1935 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 25th term. It resulted in the Labour Party's first electoral victory, with Michael Joseph Savage becoming the first Labour Prime Minister...
. Newell was presented with a government recommendation to remit four prisoners sentenced to be flogged, but refused to do so. He argued that it was not constitutionally proper for the government to ignore Parliament's decision to set punishments for crimes; if the government did not intend convicts to be flogged, then they should repeal the legislation allowing it. The Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, refused to accept this response, but avoided pressing the point; in the end, a compromise was reached where Newall remitted the sentences but the government undertook to repeal the legislation.
Following his return from New Zealand in 1946, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Newall
Baron Newall
Baron Newall, of Clifton-upon-Dunsmoor in the County of Warwick, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1946 for Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Cyril Newall. He was Chief of the Air Staff between 1937 and 1940 and Governor-General of New Zealand between 1941 and 1946...
, of Clifton upon Dunsmoor, in the county of Warwick. Lord Newall received numerous other honours between then and his death in 1963, at which time his son Francis
Francis Newall, 2nd Baron Newall
Francis Storer Eaton Newall, 2nd Baron Newall DL is the son of Marshal of the Royal Air Force and Governor-General of New Zealand Sir Cyril Newall and his wife Olivia, and has served as a soldier, staff officer, diplomat, politician, legislator, businessman, and representative of the Crown in a...
inherited his title.
Honours and awards
- BaronBaronBaron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
– 13 Jun 1946 (Conferred 19 Jul 1946) - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath – 9 Jun 1938 (KCB – 4 Jun 1935, CB – 3 Jun 1929)
- Order of MeritOrder of MeritThe Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
– 1 Nov 1940 - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George – 4 Feb 1941 (CMG – 1 Jan 1919)
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire – 3 Jun 1919
- Knight of the Order of St John – 3 Jan 1941
- Albert MedalAlbert Medal (lifesaving)The Albert Medal for Lifesaving was a British medal awarded to recognise the saving of life. It has since been replaced by the George Cross.The Albert Medal was first instituted by a Royal Warrant on 7 March 1866 and discontinued in 1971 with the last two awards promulgated in the London Gazette of...
(1st) – 19 May 1916 - Mentioned in Despatches – 15 Jun 1916, 11 Dec 1917, 1 Jan 1919
- Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) – 10 Oct 1918
- Officer of the Order of the Crown (Italy) – 8 Nov 1918
- Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) – 15 Apr 1921
- Croix de GuerreCroix de guerreThe Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
(Belgium) – 15 Apr 1921