Lillian Allan Newton was the youngest of the four children of Howard Vincent Newton (1852-1897) and Elizabeth Newton (nee Robertson; 1862-1954). The Newton family tree (copy included in the collection) reaches back to the early 16th century and includes Sir Isaac Newton among its branches. Howard Newton went to Singapore in 1877 and became assistant municipal engineer; he resigned in 1896 to take up an appointment in Bombay where he died from cholera the following year. Newton Road, Singapore, is named after him. Lillian Newton was born at Bridge of Allan, Scotland, on April 26, 1894, when her parents were on leave in the U.K. Some months later the family returned to Singapore. Lillian attended the Raffles Girls School and eventually became a teacher there. She and her sisters took part in numerous amateur dramatic performances and Lillian's talent as a dancer won frequent praise in the Singapore press. In 1921-1922 she studied dance in London under Flora Fairbairn of the Legat School, and in 1922 she opened her own School of Dancing in Singapore. One of her young pupils, Sally Gilmour, was to become leading danseuse with the Ballet Rambert in London. Lillian Newton and her mother left Singapore in 1925. Lillian died in 1977.