{{use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} '''Ursula Bridget Constance Newell, JP''' (1911 – 4 June 1937) was a British barrister, magistrate and amateur golfer. She was runner-up in the 1936 British Ladies Amateur, and one of the favourites for 1937. However, she died suddenly, aged 25, shortly before the 1937 tournament at Turnberry began.<ref name=MG>'Woman Golfer's Death: Miss Bridget Newell', ''The Manchester Guardian'', 5 June 1937.</ref><ref name="Ward2014">{{cite book|author=Andrew Ward|title=Golf's Strangest Rounds: Extraordinary But True Tales from a Century of Golf|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G1HACAAAQBAJ&pg=PT70|year=2014|publisher=Pavilion Books|isbn=978-1-910232-23-1|pages=70–1|chapter=Sudden Death at the International}}</ref>
==Life== Newell was born in Eldwick.<ref name=MG/><ref name="SteelRyde1975">{{cite book|author1=Donald Steel|author2=Peter Ryde|title=The Encyclopedia of golf|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWERAQAAMAAJ|year=1975|publisher=Viking Press|page=271|chapter=Newell, Ursula Bridget Constance|isbn=9780670294015 }}</ref> Her father, Harold Newell of Darley Hall in Darley Dale, was a County Court judge for the Derbyshire circuit.<ref name=HaroldNewellObit>'Death of Judge Newell', ''The Times'', 6 November 1937.</ref> She was called to the Bar from the Middle Temple in November 1932,<ref name="MiddleTemple1949">{{cite book|author=Honourable Society of the Middle Temple|author-link=Honourable Society of the Middle Temple|title=Register of admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, from the fifteenth century to the year 1944|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9c1AAAAIAAJ|year=1949|publisher=Published for the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple by Butterworth}}</ref> aged 21.<ref name="SJ1937">{{cite book|title=The Solicitors' Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lixKAQAAIAAJ|year=1937|page=472|chapter=Miss U. B. C. Newell}}</ref><ref name="LawJournal">{{cite book|title=The Law Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4NYuAAAAIAAJ|year=1937|publisher=E.B. Ince|page=417}}</ref> At the age of 23 she became the youngest magistrate in England, sitting on the Matlock bench.<ref name=MG/><ref name="Ward2014"/>
Newell often played in pairing with Gwen Cradock-Hartopp.<ref name=MG/> The couple won the ''Bystander'' Ladies' Autumn Foursomes in 1934,<ref>'Ladies' Meeting at Ranelagh', ''The Times'', 10 October 1935, p. 6</ref> and reached the final of the ''Bystander'' Scottish Ladies' Foursomes in June 1935.<ref name=Times1935>'Scottish Ladies' Foursomes', ''The Times'', 7 June 1935, p. 7</ref>
Newell won the Derbyshire ladies golf championship in 1935, and was Midland champion in 1936. She reached the semi-final of the French women's championship in 1936.<ref name=MG/> She was in the British team against the United States in the 1936 Curtis Cup, though did not play, and played for England in the Women's Home Internationals the following week.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Times |date=7 May 1936 |page=5 |title=The Curtis Cup – A halved match}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xplAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WKUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5879%2C1002623 |title=Women's international match – Britain and America draw in thrilling finish |newspaper=The Glasgow Herald |page=3 |date=7 May 1936}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zZlAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WKUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6049%2C2507406 |title=Golf Internationals – English Women Ragain Title |newspaper=The Glasgow Herald |page=22 |date=15 May 1936}}</ref> She played for Britain against France in the Vagliano Trophy in 1936 and 1937.<ref name=MG/> She was runner-up against Pam Barton in the 1936 British Ladies Amateur.<ref>'Golf: Miss Barton the Champion. Third Time Lucky', ''The Times'', 22 May 1936, p. 7.</ref>
In October 1936 she was beaten by Wanda Morgan in the English Ladies Golf Championship at Hayling Island.<ref>'English Ladies' Championship: Two Close Matches', ''The Times'', 2 October 1936, p. 5.</ref>
In June 1937, Newell was due to play in the Women's Home Internationals at Turnberry, and in the British Ladies Amateur there the following week. However, she had been suffering from tonsilitis. She practiced on the morning of 3 June, but after lunch withdrew from the England team and retired to her hotel bedroom. The Home Internationals started the next day, and Newell died that evening. She was said to have died of diphtheria although the family have always believed she died of anaphylactic shock from medicine given for her illness.<ref name="Ward2014"/> As a result of her death, the Home Internationals were cancelled.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c1BAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xoQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4026%2C834344 |title=Death of Noted Woman Golfer |newspaper=The Glasgow Herald |page=11 |date=5 June 1937}}</ref>
In November 1937, the Duke of Devonshire unveiled tablets to Newell's memory in St Helen's Church, Darley Dale.<ref name=HaroldNewellObit/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Bridget}} Category:English female golfers Category:English barristers Category:English justices of the peace Category:Members of the Middle Temple Category:Deaths from diphtheria Category:20th-century English lawyers Category:1911 births Category:1937 deaths Category:20th-century English sportswomen