Noel Newson

Noel Newson (1911-1944) was an accomplished concert pianist and was chosen to accompany English violinist Maurice Clare in the first performance of a violin sonata by Douglas Lilburn in 1943. According to a newspaper report Noel was in 'delicate health', and he died in 1944, aged just 32. (Evening Star, 8 April 1944, 8).  Lilburn composed Elegy, in Memoriam, Noel Newson in his honour.

This photograph is part of the Randell family collection. Noel was the eldest grandson of Annie Chittey (née Randell), daughter of William and Sarah Randell. In 1867 William Randell built a small wooden cottage in St Mary Street, in Thorndon, and William and Sarah raised their ten children there. William died in 1880 but Sarah stayed in the cottage until 1912 when Noel was a baby. Since 2001 Randell Cottage in St Mary Street has been a Residence for Writers, and Lilburn House at nearby 22 Ascot Terrace, a Residence for Musicians. 

In 1994 William and Sarah’s great-granddaughter Beverley Randell and her husband Hugh Price purchased the cottage at 14 St Mary Street, and with their daughter Susan Price they set about restoring it. Over the course of the restoration, with their architect Martin Hill, they discovered a number of everyday objects such as clothing, ceramic fragments, discarded tools, children's toys, buttons and bottles, hidden in the walls, under the floorboards or in the attic. They donated these items to Te Papa in 2008. In 2023, Beverley and Susan gifted additional objects and photographs – including this one – to add to the family story.

References
Randell, Beverley. 1992. A Crowded Thorndon Cottage: The story of William and Sarah Randell and their ten children. Wellington: Gondwanaland Press.
Randell, Beverley, and Susan Price. 2022. Unpublished research notes provided to curator.