Verrall Newman

The daughter of the secretary of a public Mercantile Marine company, Verrall Newman did not start her serious competitive aquatic career until she was 23-years-of-age when she competed in an Amateur Diving Association (ADA) event at Highgate Ponds in 1920. Two years later she finished third in the ADA National Diving Championships, and was also third in that years Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) 100 yards freestyle. Newman won the Southern Counties 220 yards freestyle title in 1923, and to show her all-round versatility, competed in the National Long-Distance Championship on the river Thames. Newman beat the holder Belle White to win the 1924 ADA plain diving title and she also went to the Olympics where she just failed to make the final pool of six divers, finishing fourth in her heat.

Newman was still swimming for England at the age of 34 and later became an official with the Southern Counties ASA, and often acted as a starter, referee, judge and master of ceremonies at various galas. She was later appointed president of the Association, and also held a similar post with the Middlesex County Swimming Association. Newman was chaperone to the England ladies swimming and diving team at the British Empire Games at Sydney in 1938. She volunteered as a Red Cross reserve during World War II.