Newman letters in the archive of the Royal Literary Fund

Part of our ongoing mission at the National Institute for Newman Studies, is to locate and digitize all Newman letters held either privately, or in repositories across the world, with the aim of making our international Newman digital archive as comprehensive as possible.

On 9 March 2026, I made contact with the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) regarding three Newman letters held in their archives and quickly received a response from their Chief Executive, Edward Kemp, and their Head of Marketing, Richard Le Cocq, who replied that they would be delighted to partner with NINS to include their Newman letters as part of our digital collections.

The archives of the RLF are held on-loan at the British Library, so we first had to arrange for their digitization, which has now been completed. These Newman letters can now be viewed on our platform. Each of the letters is a recommendation for financial support from the RLF.

The RLF is a benevolent charity dating back to 1790. It was established by the dissenting minister, the Rev. David Williams (1738-1816). Williams had heard of the death of the scholar, antiquarian, and translator, Floyer Sydenham (1710-1787), in debtors’ prison and was inspired to establish a fund to support other literary figures who found themselves in similar circumstances.

In 1818 the fund received a royal charter from the Prince Regent, later King George IV. Over the last two and a half centuries, the RLF has continued to help and support figures in the literary world, building up its charitable funds from donations, bequests, and book royalties assigned to them by authors, including noted Catholic figure, G. K. Chesterton.

The first Newman letter, dated 26 March 1855, is a personal correspondence from Newman to Miles Gerald Keon (1821-1875), a Catholic journalist and author who had fallen on hard times and was facing destitution.

The second letter, dated 8 February 1881, is addressed directly to the Secretary of the RLF, Octavian John Blewitt (1810-1884), asking for him to consider providing support to Augustino Olivieri (1828-1887), an Italian born musician, poet, and author, then living in London.

The third and final letter, dated 8 May 1881, again addressed directly to Blewitt, asks for charitable assistance to be rendered to Newman’s old friend Miss Emily Bowles (1818-1905), who was the younger sister of former Oratorian Father Frederick Bowles (1818-1902).

These three letters give us a glimpse into an often overlooked part of Newman's life. In them he is not working on major theological texts, or discussing matters of international Catholic politics, but instead is attempting to assist three lay friends, each of whom had fallen on hard times, hoping that his support might enable them to obtain financial charitable help.

From Richard Le Cocq, RLF, Head of Marketing and Communications:

The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is the world’s oldest literary charity dedicated to supporting professional writers in financial difficulty. Our mission is to enable writers to keep writing and to share their skills with others. Each year, the RLF distributes over £7 million through grants and a range of education, community, and workplace programmes. Our Fellowship scheme has created paid opportunities for more than 850 professional writers at over 100 universities and institutions across the UK, and our online magazine WritersMosaic is dedicated to celebrating and showcasing writers of the global majority. Through the support of many writers over the centuries, the RLF has been able to provide both short- and long-term hardship grants to writers, whether facing an unexpected bill, reduced income or unable to write due to a change in circumstances, sickness or disability.

Beneficiaries have included Anna Burns, Margaret Busby, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Hanif Kureishi, D. H. Lawrence, Doris Lessing, Edith Nesbit, Mustapha Matura, Edna O’Brien, Mervyn Peake, Ali Smith, Bram Stoker, and Dylan Thomas.