Thomas Walter Francis Newton was born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, England in 1862 and was articled to Frank Barlow Osborn (1840-1907) and Alfred Reading (1850-1908) of Osborn & Reading in Birmingham.
By 1884 Newton had set up in practice as an architect at 7 Waterloo Street, Birmingham. This was the same address as the Joseph Crouch (1859-1936) and the two architects were to remain closely linked throughout Newton's career, and a similarity between the domestic work of Newton and that of Crouch has been observed. There are also similarities to the work of Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912).
By 1888 Newton had relocated his office to 121 Colmore Row, Birmingham and in c.1891 formed a partnership with Alfred Edward Robie Farmer Cheatle (1871-1941 as Newton & Cheatle. By 1899 they had moved their office to 125-131 Newhall Street, Birmingham.
Newton & Cheatle designed a wide range of industrial, commercial and domestic properties, mainly in the Birmingham area. The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement is discernible in much of the practice's work.
Newton died at Quarry Farm, Northfield, Birmingham on 22 January 1903. Following his death Cheatle continued the practice. In 1927 he was joined by Charles Stanbury Madeley (1887-1962).
Factory, 62-63 Hampton Street, Birmingham for John Sarsons Walford, cock maker (1897); Eagle Works, 31 Green Street and Alcester Street, Deritend, Birmingham for Sarsons & Butt, brassfounders (1897); Printing Works, 45-47 Church Street, Birmingham for Buckler & Webb, printers and bookbinders (1898); The Fighting Cocks public house, Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham for Holt Brewery (1898); City Arcades, Union Street, Birmingham (1898-1901); Business premises, 121-123 Edmund Street, Birmingham for Innes, Smith & Co. wine and spirits merchants (1899); Factory, Water Street and Constitution Hill, Birmingham for Barker Bros., silversmiths (1900-01); Offices and warehouse, 37 Church Street, Birmingham for H. B. Perry & Co., export hardware merchants (1901); and The Horse and Jockey public house, Inkford Brook, Alcester Road, Birmingham (1912).
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See also: List of Principal Architectural Works of Newton and Cheatle in Rathbone, Niki and Bassindale, John. ‘Newton & Cheatle’ pp. 493-497 [Bibliography below]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 84, 31 January 1903 p. 120
Rathbone, Niki and Bassindale, John. ‘Newton & Cheatle’ in Birmingham's Victorian and Edwardian Architects, edited by Phillada Ballard. Wetherby: Oblong Creative Ltd. for the Birmingham and West Midlands Group of the Victorian Society, 2009, pp. 479-498
Thornton, Roy. Victorian Buildings of Birmingham. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Ltd., 2006 Chapter 3. The Comore Estate. Newton & Cheatle pp. 18-24.