Charles Norris-Newman
Charles Louis Marie William Norris-Newman (22 August 1852 – May 1920) was a British journalist, adventurer and intelligence officer with the Russian Navy.
Norris-Newman was in Southern Africa from 1877 and was the only newspaper correspondent with the British forces during the invasion of Zululand in 1879, reporting for The Standard.
From 1902 Norris-Newman worked for the Imperial Russian Navy first as an English teacher and then in publishing a journal in the Far East, eventually being granted the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
He was accused by George Ernest Morrison, political adviser to the Chinese Republic, of propaganda against the Japanese during the 1904–1905 Russo-Japanese War.
[2][1] Historian Ian Knight notes that he is sometimes reported to have served as an officer (several contemporaries refer to him as "captain") in the British Army or one of the colonial forces but found no evidence of service.
[3] Norris-Newman was present at the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and was decorated for his service during the battle by the city's governor Louis-Jules Trochu.
He accompanied Infante Carlos, Duke of Madrid during the Third Carlist War (1872–1876) and was with General Charles George Gordon during his service in Egypt (from 1873).
[10] Norris-Newman avoided death in the 22 January Battle of Isandlwana, in which the Centre Column's camp in Zululand was wiped out, as he had accompanied the 3rd NNC and Chelmsford on a reconnaissance expedition that morning.
Uncertain if the post had fallen to the Zulu attack Norris-Newman was with the first party to approach and enter it, having discovered that the defenders had prevailed.
[12] The report, including a carefully compiled casualty list, was printed locally in an extra edition of the Natal Times on 24 January, the same day he arrived at Pietermaritzburg.
[13] Following the defeat the British press dispatched their best correspondents to Natal, including Melton Prior, Charles Edwin Fripp and Archibald Forbes.
[16] After the battle he and a friend, a wagon driver named Palmer, went out into the field and found a group of three dead Zulu that they thought they had killed.
[17] Norris-Newman was the first man to enter Eshowe upon its relief, racing the correspondent of the Argus for the honour and beating him by five minutes.
[21] Norris-Newman featured in the 1979 film Zulu Dawn, portrayed by English actor Ronald Lacey as an "acidic" commentator on the invasion.
[25] By 1885 Norris-Newman was back in Southern Africa, serving as town clerk and treasurer to the municipality of Aliwal North in Cape Colony.
[2] A contemporary, the Australian political adviser to the Chinese Republic George Ernest Morrison noted that Norris-Newman played on his notoriety, being in the habit of introducing his spouse by telling gentlemen "you have met my wife before I think", implying that they had frequented her brothel.
[33] In 1902 Norris-Newman entered the employ of the Imperial Russian Navy, serving as an English language instructor at Port Arthur where he lived openly with a mistress.
[34][35][33] Norris-Newman reported as a freelance correspondent from the Russian side of the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War and was witness to the Siege of Port Arthur.
His hobbies were noted as riding, shooting and philately and he is stated to be a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Provincial Senior Grand Warden with the freemasons.
[1] Norris-Newman's interest in philately dated from at least his time in Aliwal North and he was elected a member of the Birmingham Philatelic Society in 1896.
Meekle passed these stamps to Charles H. Hussman of the Columbia Supply Company in the United States but no money reached Norris-Newman.
A jury in the court of Julius Muench [wikidata] in March 1912 ordered Hussman to return the album or pay Norris-Newman $750.
