Both his parents were keen naturalists, and he was further encouraged to take an interest in the natural world at his boarding school in Painswick.

Here he met many of the leading entomologists of the day, including Edward Doubleday, and was a founder member of the Entomological Club.

In 1840 Newman was married and published the first edition of A History of British Ferns and Allied Plants.

This is, as far as is known, the first reconstruction of pterosaurs as hairy warm blooded creatures, which modern research suggests was actually the case.

He argued, in this rather amusing article, that it was rather unlikely that his ideas were correct, since authorities like Georges Cuvier and William Buckland thought pterosaurs were reptiles, but, even so, it was still possible that the experts were wrong and he got it right.