33rd IEE Member to Fall in World War 1 – Captain V W Newman

Captain Vernon William Newman of the 4th Battalion (Extra Reserve) The Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), attached to the 1st Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, died 25 September 1915, the 33rd member of the IEE to die in World War 1.

Vernon Newman passed the Matriculation Examination of the University of London in September 1903 and then entered the Merchant Venturers’ Technical College, Bristol where he took the 3 year course in electrical engineering under Professor Robertson. In 1906 he proceeded to the City and Guilds Central Technical College, South Kensington and studied electrical engineering for a further 2 years under Professor Mather, graduating with a University of London BSc (Engineering) with Honours in 1908. In 1910 he took the degree of a BSc (Engineering) at Bristol University, which had been founded in 1909. Vernon joined the engineering firm of Messrs Mather & Platt Ltd, Manchester in October 1908, and when the apprenticeship ended in 1910 he joined Siemens Dynamo Works Ltd, a position he left in autumn 1911. He then joined Allgemeine Elektricitats-Gesellschaft as an engineer in Berlin, before resigning in 1913 to take up research work at the Scientific and Technical Research Department of the Imperial Institute, South Kensington.

Vernon suspended his research work shortly after the declaration of war in the summer of 1914 in order to serve in the Army. He was given a commission with the rank of Lieutenant in November 1914 and posted to the 4th Battalion (Extra Reserve) The Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) which was then part of the garrison defending the port of Falmouth. He was ordered overseas in early 1915 and crossed over to France in March 1915 where he was attached to the 1st Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. His Division took part in the Battle of Aubers Ridge (9 May 1915) and the Battle of Festubert (15-25 May 1915) before the spring campaign of 1915 ended in June. Vernon was given the temporary rank of Captain in August 1915 and the next major battle in which his Division was involved was the Battle of Loos (25 September – 8 October 1915). On the 1st day of The Battle of Loos, Vernon’s Battalion was almost annihilated. Whilst he was leading his Company forward in the attack across open ground, he was hit by a fragment from a high-explosive shell and killed instantaneously.

Captain Newman’s obituary was published in the IEE World War I Honour Roll and these details have been reproduced below.