P.C.B. Newington

Philip Campbell Beatson Newington (1888 – 1964) was the author of a cookery book celebrating Malaysian food, something he conceived while starving as a prisoner of war at the Sime Road Camp in Singapore between 1942 and 1945.[1][2] During his incarceration, Newington founded a Gourmet Club, Good Food, for him and his fellow prisoners; the Club celebrated, in precise detail, cooking and eating imaginary meals.[3][4] A book of his experience and the recipes remembered and created, Good Food, was published in 1947.[5] Always curious of the culture of his adopted home he was, before and after the War, a contributor to journals on his experiences of local customs.[6][7][8]

Life

Newington was baptised on 10 July 1888,[9] the son of Charles Douglas Godfrey Newington and his wife, Frances Maria Newington.[9] He was educated at Bedford Modern School.[10]

Newington began his career in the Sarawak Service, becoming District officer amongst the Melanau at Mukah.[11][12][13] He was curious about local culture and was a contributor to many journals during his time as an expatriate.[14][15][16]

Newington later became a plantation owner in Sarawak[1] and was a prisoner of war in Singapore between 1942 and 1945.[2] He was initially interned at the Changi Prison[17] where he witnessed the so-called Double Tenth incident and kept an extant notebook of his experience.[18] After Changi he was transferred to the Sime Road Camp where he founded a gourmet club, Good Food, which celebrated cooking and eating imaginary meals.[19] In his book, Wartime Kitchen, Hong Suen Wong explained that ‘Revelling in the finer details of food and dining in a systematic way…became a way for the prisoners to relieve their hunger and to sustain them psychologically’.[19] A book of Newington's experience in the prison of war camp, Good Food, was published in 1947.[5]

In 1919 Newington married Valerie Murray Henderson.[20] He was a prominent Rotarian[21] and died in Ipoh on 15 May 1964.[10]

Selected work

References

  1. 1 2 "Malaysia". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Wartime Kitchen". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Food Culture in Colonial Asia". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "Private Papers P C B Newington (Documents.7620)". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Good food". worldcat.org. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  6. 1 2 "The Sarawak Museum Journal". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Proceedings of the ... International Symposium on Asian Studies". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  8. 1 2 "The Sarawak Museum Journal". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  9. 1 2 "Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records at Ancestry.co.uk". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Malaysia". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "Janus: Archives of the British Association of Malaysia and Singapore". cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  12. ↑ "The Colonial Office List for ...". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "Malaysia". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "A Borneo Journey Into Death". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  15. ↑ "The Sarawak Museum Journal". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  16. ↑ "Acts of Integration, Expressions of Faith". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  17. ↑ "Good food (11 / 1298)". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  18. ↑ "Private Papers P C B Newington (Documents.7620)". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  19. 1 2 "Wartime Kitchen". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  20. ↑ http://www.pustaka-sarawak.com/gazette/gazette_uploaded/1370831200.pdf
  21. ↑ "Witness to history". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  22. ↑ "Good Food". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  23. ↑ "Brunei Museum Journal". google.com. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
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