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

• Good Food. Published by Charles Grenier, Ipoh, Malaysia^[5][22]
• Melanau Memories. Published by Sarawak Museum Journal, 1961^{[6][7][8][23]}

References