Thomas Oliver Newnham

Who was Thomas Oliver Newnham?

Thomas Oliver "Tom" Newnham QSO 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.

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.

In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, Newnham was made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service.

Newnham died on 15 December 2010 from cancer, aged 84, at Elizabeth Knox Hospital, Epsom.