Sir Francis George Newbolt KC FCS (21 November 1863 – 5 December 1940)[1][2] was a British barrister, judge, etcher and writer.
He was the Recorder of Doncaster between 1916 and 1920, and the Official Referee for the Supreme Court between 1920 and 1936, as well as being Chancellor of the Diocese of Exeter and Bradford and Chairman of the Devon Quarter Session.
[1] Newbolt was born in Bilston, Wolverhampton, son of the vicar of St Mary's Church, the Rev.
One of his first cases was representing the plaintiff, John William Phillips, landlord of Hoy and Helmet, South Benfleet against the Marquis of Queensberry in the High Court.
[12] In 1920 he was made the Official Referee for the Supreme Court by the Lord Chancellor F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead.
[13] In 1923, Newbolt recommended that medical evidence should be used in paternity cases due to the issue of perjury.
[14] He stated that a defendant[15] rarely shows any hesitation about committing perjury and that a doctor's report, if not in his favour, might deter him from swearing to the contrary His recommendations were not taken forward at the time due to the limitations in medical science.
[18] In 1939, Newbolt represented Jacob Epstein at a military tribune as part of T. E. Hulme's campaign to stop him being called up.
[29] Newbolt started writing under a pseudonym Bradnock Hall, with a novel Rough Mischance in 1896 and Fish Tales and Some True Ones in 1897.
[43] In 1915, he worked with his brother Sir Henry John Newbolt on the book The King's Highway.
[44] In 1925 he wrote Out of Court where he attacked Anthony Trollope and his novel Orley Farm for his inaccuracies in the procedure of law.