The following story of the Newman sisters was researched and written by Christine Abbas.

As recently as 2014 the name of the Newman sisters still resonated in the South Wales valleys, long after they had left, and even after their passing. During a domiciliary visit I made to an elderly lady in Nelson, she happened to say she came from Cilfynydd and I’d “probably never heard of it”. On the contrary, I told her, I knew of the Newman sisters who came from there, and, to my surprise she said she remembered them. This must have been before they became Bahá’ís, as it was through the chapel that their paths had crossed.

To follow the Newmans’ path into the Bahá’í Faith, we must return to Cilfynydd where the family lived, Mr and Mrs Newman and their six children, who in birth order were John, Gary, Ceinwen, Beatrice, Mary and Florence. Perhaps the three older children had left home, for by the time our story begins, it concerns only the three youngest daughters and their mother.

Around 1948, a seamstress came to the home with her sewing machine, to stay for a week in order to recover a three-piece suit. It was Claire Gung and during that week she introduced the Faith to them. However, they were staunch Baptists; Beatrice was a deacon, as had been both her parents, and although the idea of a new Revelation was intriguing, it would take some time for the ‘seed’ to germinate. Her work as a deacon would have been a life time commitment and neither her mother, her family or her friends would have understood if Beatrice had ‘changed her religion’.

Then in 1956 the Faith came to her notice again when Beatrice found a colleague of hers reading a pamphlet. She asked if she could read it, ‘if he had finished with it’ and, because he was not interested himself, he passed it on to her. After reading it she was able to contact the Bahá’ís in Cardiff and Dr. Ernest Miller, the Assembly’s chairman, invited her to attend a weekend school in Porthcawl, which would take place the following week. This was the first school to be held in Wales.

When she arrived she was astonished to be greeted so warmly by the Bahá’ís (having been introduced by Mrs Hofman as ‘the friend of Claire Gung). Beatrice may have had an early indication of how close-knit the Bahá’í community was from this experience. Beatrice also attended firesides in Cardiff, without the knowledge of her family at first because she was afraid to tell her mother.

Throughout 1958 Beatrice supported the teaching work in Pontypridd, although she had not yet declared as a Bahá’í. She loved the teachings but she still had to grapple with the understanding that other Messengers had come who were equal to her beloved Christ Jesus. By January 1959 she accepted Bahá’u’lláh, realising that she was not denying her Lord, but rather, was being obedient to His command to watch and wait for His second coming. Beatrice had no problems resigning as a deacon because a disagreement in the chapel became so acrimonious that they hardly noticed her departure, so she became the first Welsh speaking person, living in Wales, to become a Bahá’í.

Beatrice was the Headmistress at an infants’ school in Hawthorn, near Pontypridd, and when she had a spell in hospital she met Sally Temple, also a teacher and a patient; which is how Sally first heard about the Bahá’í Faith. She tells us that Beatrice was anxious to leave the hospital to go to a Bahá’í picnic and Sally was interested to find out why it was so important.

In 1957 Cardiff Assembly was asked by the National Spiritual Assembly to name a ‘goal town’ for an extension teaching plan and Pontypridd was suggested. Only whilst Beatrice and a few other Bahá’ís travelled together to the teaching conference in Blackpool did it become clear that this goal had been achieved, when it was discovered that Cilfynydd was within the administrative Borough of Pontypridd. A goal of the Ten Year Crusade had been won and a cable was sent from the conference to the Hands of the Cause, in the Holy Land, sharing the news that a ‘Declaration opens Pontypridd.’

Mary Newman became a Bahá’í at the time that Beatrice was appointed on to the newly formed Regional Teaching Committee for Wales. She had, at first, thought that Beatrice was quite misguided until she read ‘Prescription for Living’ by Ruhíyyih Khánum and found it to be ‘the answer to living.’

The honour of representing Wales at the Dedication Ceremony of Kampala Temple, Uganda, January 14th 1961, was given to Beatrice. On her return she wrote several articles about her experiences which appeared in the South Wales Echo, the Newport Argus and the Pontypridd Observer. On March 8th a recorded interview with the B.B.C. was broadcast on the Welsh Home Service and several invitations followed to give talks to schools and other organisations about her visit to Africa.

In March 1961 Florence became a Bahá’í, in time for the first Spiritual Assembly of Pontypridd to be formed. This assembly had the distinction of being the first to form entirely with local people, without any pioneers, and was the cause of great joy throughout the Bahá’í world. It also held an election as there were ten members, and then began busily organising events, including a weekend school in Glan-y-Mor, Barry.

Florence had found it more difficult accepting the Faith, she had a firm belief in the Bible but was not so enamoured with organised religion. However many firesides were held in the family home, 26 Bedw Road, and many renowned Bahá’í visitors passed through. When Mrs Meherenghiz Munsiff asked the assembled friends and neighbours if they were going to reject the latest Messenger, as the Jews had done in the day of Christ, Florence felt she had to investigate further. She did not tell her family she was doing so and it took about three years of careful study, which she would only do through proofs from the Bible, not by reading any Bahá’í books.

Florence had been a Welfare Officer and was known for her kindness and caring, even when she was off duty. When she retired she was able to devote more time serving the Faith.

Mrs Newman did not declare as a Bahá’í although she did come to recognize Bahá’u’lláh and attended all the meetings held in her home. She could not get used to the strange Name, until she met Ali Nakhjavani, in her home, and he asked her what Name she might use instead. She answered with ‘Gogoniant Duw’ which is the Welsh equivalent of ‘the Glory of God’.

In 1962 (January), Beatrice and Florence became the first Welsh pilgrims at the World centre. Then in 1963 the Bahá’í world was looking forward to the first World Congress which had been relocated to London, from Baghdad. A group of Bahá’ís in Wales were looking forward to attending, although Sally Tempest said that both she and Mary Newman thought they wouldn’t be able to go because it was not during a school holiday. (Mary must have also been in teaching). Fortunately they were both able to go, along with Beatrice, Florence and a few others from Wales.

 

A year later Mary Newman went on her pilgrimage, and was accompanied by Sally.

By 1966 numbers of Bahá’ís in Wales had grown, so that some decided it was time to pioneer and Beatrice and Mary went, along with David Lewis and family, to Winchester, to bring that assembly up to strength. They all moved to be there for Ridván and had to live in a derelict hotel, along with the cockroaches, until their homes were ready to move into. By the time Sandra and Peter Jenkins arrived in Winchester, Florence had also joined them.

In July 1973 the Newman sisters were spotted in Sliema, Malta by Ron and Thelma Batchelor. They seem to have been on a travel teaching visit, at a time they were still living in Winchester.

Then the sisters moved to Poole; Florence first and Mary and Beatrice followed. Their home (in North Road) became a centre of Bahá’í Activity. Florence died in Poole in 13th December 1997.

All three sisters served the Faith to their utmost and they leave a legacy that the Principality of Wales will cherish, and be proud of in the future.

 

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Compiled by Christine Abbas from the following sources:

Carl Card (Our Precious Heritage), Thelma Batchelor, Sandra Jenkins, Erica Leith, David Lewis, Sally Tempest

N.B. dates were not always consistent through the various sources and may not be entirely accurate, although usually only out by a couple of years.

 

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