A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Newman, Francis William

by John William Cousin

Newman, Francis William (1805-1897). -- Scholar and theological writer, brother of Cardinal N., b. in London, and ed. at Oxf. After spending three years in the East, he became successively classical tutor in Bristol Coll., Professor of Classical Literature in Manchester New Coll. (1840), and of Latin in Univ. Coll., London, 1846-63. Both brought up under evangelical influences, the two brothers moved from that standpoint in diametrically opposite directions, Francis through eclecticism towards scepticism. His writings include a History of the Hebrew Monarchy (1847), The Soul (1849), and his most famous book, Phases of Faith (1850), a theological autobiography corresponding to his brother's Apologia, the publication of which led to much controversy, and to the appearance of Henry Rogers' Eclipse of Faith. He also pub. Miscellanea in 4 vols., a Dictionary of modern Arabic, and some mathematical treatises. He was a vegetarian, a total abstainer, and enemy of tobacco, vaccination, and vivisection. Memoir by I.G. Sieveking, 1909.