Tom Newnham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Oliver Newnham QSO (20 November 1926 – 15 December 2010) was a New Zealand political activist and educationalist. He was involved in several left wing causes: attacking institutional racism in New Zealand, and opposing the 1981 Springbok Tour and apartheid in general (both carried out in his role as Secretary of CARE).[1]
He spoke Cantonese and Mandarin fluently after living in China and was heavily involved in helping Chinese immigrants in his later years. He wrote the book Dr Bethune's Angel: The Life of Kathleen Hall about the New Zealand missionary nurse who worked with the Canadian physician, Dr Norman Bethune, in China in the 1930s.[1]
In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, Newnham was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service.[2]
Newnham died on 15 December 2010 from cancer, aged 84, at Elizabeth Knox Hospital, Epsom.[3][4]
In 2023 he was posthumously bestowed with the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo.[5]