His father, Ralph Lamartine Newbery Purcell (born 1848) was a dentist who emigrated from Long Island, New York, and settled in Argentina after the American Civil War, in which he fought on the Union side of the Battle of Gettysburg and was recognized for his courage.

"[4] These years saw the appearance of tango, Vaslav Nijinsky dancing in the Teatro Colón, the opening of the Buenos Aires Metro, the arrival of Guglielmo Marconi in Argentina in order to carry out the first radio-telephonic communication with Ireland and Canada.

His naval career lasted until 1900, when he was named Director General of Electrical, Mechanical and Lighting Installations of the Municipality of Buenos Aires City, a public role which he would hold until his death.

On 25 December 1907, Jorge Newbery and Aarón Anchorena crossed the Río de la Plata in the balloon El Pampero before landing in Conchillas, Uruguay.

Despite the tragedy and public opinion starting to consider balloon-flight to be excessively dangerous, Newbery prepared a new balloon, El Patriota, and revitalised aerostatics with the help of socialist representative Alfredo Palacios.

On 27 April, just eighteen days after publication of the aforementioned article, he was elected president of the same Aero Club Argentino which he had previously served as second vice-president.

He took part in the Exposición Internacional del Centenario (1910) in Buenos Aires by making balloon ascents over the exhibition so that visitors could view the surrounding area of Palermo and the river.

As a direct result of Newbery and the Aero Club Argentino's offer to make their park freely available to the Ministry of War, on 10 August 1912 the President Roque Sáenz Peña created the Military Aviation School, the first Latin American air force.

On 24 November 1912, Newbery crossed the Río de la Plata in the monoplane "Centenario", a 50 HP Gnome powered Bleriot XI.

Influenced by Newbery, the young Teodoro Fels, took an aeroplane from the Military Aviation School without permission and reached Montevideo, breaking the world record for flight over water.

Jorge Newbery died in the Estancia "Los Tamarindos" in Mendoza (now Governor Francisco Gabrielli International Airport), on 1 March 1914, aged 38.

In 1905 and 1906 he won the foil fencing contests organised by the Buenos Aires Jockey Club, where he also defeated the French swordfighting champion Berger.

As a civil servant, Newbery supported municipal control of lighting, contrary to the situation at the time in which the service was conceded to private companies.

Newbery took an active role in the debate and wrote an extensive report entitled "General considerations on the transfer of lighting services to municipal ownership", which was published in the Annals of the Argentine Scientific Society, April–June 1904.

Among other arguments to support his position, Newbery wrote: The necessity of such a defensive intervention is a direct consequence of the means by which capital is now used to maximise benefits, while these powerful groups have now found monopoly or union to be a safer or more productive basis for obtaining greater interest than previously offered by competition with each other.

In 1908 he published a study on the manufacture of "The electric incandescent light bulb called zirconium and other metallic filaments", based on his own laboratory tests, with the aims of implementing their use in Argentina.

[17] In 1910, in collaboration with the chemist Justino Thierry, he wrote a scientific-industrial book entitled "Petroleum" in which they argues for the necessity of keeping oil zones for the state.

In his promotion of sports, Jorge Newbery anticipated a still-embryonic lifestyle which focused on the development of the body and its potential, exercising self-control and training.

[19]Amainaron guapos junto a tus ochavas cuando un cajetilla los calzó de cross y te dieron lustre las patotas bravas alla por el año ... novecientos dos.

[20] A film was also made about his life: Más allá del sol (Beyond the sun, 1975), by Hugo Fregonese, with Germán Kraus in the leading role.