Pete Newbon

Peter Jonathan Hewitt Newbon (1983 – 15 January 2022) was a British academic and campaigner against anti-Semitism. At the time of his death, he was a lecturer in Romantic and Victorian Literature at Northumbria University and a director of Labour Against Antisemitism.


Biography

Newbon studied at King's College, Cambridge,[1] where he graduated BA (2006), MPhil (2007), and PhD (2011). He joined Northumbria University in 2012.[2] His research interests were the concept of childhood in the Romantic period, and the concept of the 'boy-man' in the long nineteenth century.

He was married to academic Rachel Hewitt; they had three daughters.[3] The university's investigation of Newbon was described in The Spectator as "a tale worthy of Kafka".[4]

At the time of his death, Newbon was pursuing a libel action against Rosen.[5] Newbon's inquest was conducted by the Deputy Coroner for North Yorkshire, Jonathan Leach, in Northallerton on 4 April 2023. The coroner's finding was suicide.[2][6] Newbon was also being sued in another unrelated action about his behaviour on social media[7]


After his death, the Board of Deputies of British Jews opened a condolence book in his honour.[8]


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References
  1. Sharpe, Fiona (27 January 2022). "Pete Newbon, the anti-racism warrior with a radiant soul". The Jewish Chronicle.
  2. Newton, Grace (4 April 2023). "Dr Peter Newbon inquest: Northumbria University lecturer died after falling off bridge over A64 in North Yorkshire". The Yorkshire Post.
  3. Frot, Mathilde (20 January 2022). "Activist's widow pays tearful tribute". The Jewish Chronicle.</ref Newbon died on 5 January 2022 from a fall from a road bridge. Several months earlier he posted an image on Twitter which superimposed the [[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion|Protocols of the Elders of Zion]] over an image of [[Jeremy Corbyn]]'reading to schoolchildren from [[Michael Rosen]]'s book [[We're Going on a Bear Hunt|''We're Going on a Bear Hunt'']] Newbon was criticised for this action which Rosen considered antisemitic. Northumbria University received 4,000 complaints against him and began disciplinary proceedings against him.<ref>Hirsh, David (11 August 2022). "In Memory of Pete Newbon". Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism. 5 (1): 127–130.
  4. Daisley, Stephen (24 May 2021). "Why is a Jewish lecturer being investigated for mocking Corbyn?". The Spectator.
  5. Steerpike (5 January 2022). "Michael Rosen faces defamation lawsuit". The Spectator.
  6. "Inquest hears shocking testimony of Pete Newbon's final moments". The Jewish Chronicle. 4 April 2023.
  7. https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2022/715.html
  8. "Pete Newbon Condolence Book". The Board of Deputies of British Jews.
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