Pete Newbon

Peter Jonathan Hewitt Newbon (1983 – 15 January 2022) was a British academic. from which he graduated with Bachelor of Arts (BA; 2006), Master of Philosophy (MPhil; 2007), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD; 2011) degrees. His doctoral thesis was titled "Representations of childhood in the Wordsworth circle".

He joined Northumbria University in 2012. His research interests were the concept of childhood in the Romantic period, and the concept of the boy-man in the long nineteenth century. He was married to academic Rachel Hewitt; they had three daughters.

In May 2021, Newbon posted a manipulated image on Twitter of Jeremy Corbyn reading Michael Rosen's book We're Going on a Bear Hunt to a group of children. The cover of the book had been superimposed with the antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In a play on Rosen's words, "We can't go over it. We can't go under it. Oh no! We've got to go through it!", Newbon wrote, "A nasty, horrible Zionist! We can't go over him, we can't go under him, we'll have to make an effigy..." Rosen called the tweet "loathsome and anti-Semitic". Newbon subsequently received abusive online messages

Northumbria University received 4,000 complaints against Newbon and began disciplinary proceedings. The disciplinary action culminated in Newbon being issued with a final written warning for bringing his employer into disrepute. A financial settlement in relation to costs was reached against his estate as a result of this claim.

Newbon died on 15 January 2022 from a fall from a road bridge, and being then struck by four cars on the road below. His inquest was conducted by the Assistant Coroner for North Yorkshire and York, Jonathan Leach, in Northallerton on 4 April 2023. The Coroner's finding was suicide. The Yorkshire Post reported that Newbon had had a disagreement with his wife earlier. The Jewish Chronicle described him as "the anti-racism warrior with a radiant soul".

Publications Newbon, Peter (2018). The Boy-Man, Masculinity and Immaturity in the Long Nineteenth Century (Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood).