Agnes Newton Keith
Born	6 July 1901 Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.A.
Died	30 March 1982 Oak Bay, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation	Author
Spouse	Harry Keith

Agnes Newton Keith (6 July 1901 – 30 March 1982) was an American author best known for her three autobiographical accounts of life in North Borneo (now Sabah) before, during and after the Second World War. The second of these, Three Came Home, tells of her time in a Japanese POW and civilian internee camp and was made in to a film. July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Oak Park is the name of some places in the United States of America: Oak Park, California Oak Park, Georgia Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park, Michigan Oak Park, Minnesota There is also an Oak Park in Australia. ... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in a leap year). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Victoria may refer to: // Victoria of the United Kingdom, aka Queen Victoria, former British monarch Victoria (Australia), a state in Australia Victoria, British Columbia, the capital of the Canadian province Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory Victoria may also refer to: Victoria (name) Main disambiguation page: Victoria of the United... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Official languages English de facto (none stated in law) Flower Pacific dogwood Tree Western Redcedar Bird Stellers Jay Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 36 6 Area... Image File history File links Flag_of_Canada. ... An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. ... July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in a leap year). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: Pergo et Perago (Latin: I undertake and I achieve”) British North Borneo Capital Jesselton Language(s) Malay, English Government Monarchy Monarch  - 1882 - 1901 Victoria  - 1952 - 1963 Elizabeth II Governor  - 1896 - 1901 Robert Scott Historical era New Imperialism  - North Borneo Company May, 1882  - British protectorate 1888  - Japanese invasion January 1... State motto: Sabah Maju Jaya State anthem: Sabah Tanah Airku Capital Kota Kinabalu Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Yang di-Pertua Negeri Ahmadshah Abdullah  - Ketua Menteri Musa Aman History    - Brunei Sultanate 19th century   - British North Borneo 1882   - Japanese occupation 1941-1945   - British control 1946   - Accession into Malaysia 1963  Area  - Total 76... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Three Came Home is a 1950 film based on the war memoirs of writer Agnes Newton Keith. ...

Early life

Agnes Newton Keith was born Agnes Newton in Oak Park, Illinois, USA on 6 July 1901. Her family moved to Hollywood, California when she was very young. Her father was one of the founders of the Del Monte Company. The family moved again, this time to Venice, California when Agnes was ten, for the health of her brother Al. She attended the University of California at Berkeley for four years, and on graduating got a job with the San Francisco Examiner. Eight months after starting her journalism career, she was attacked by an assailant who was convinced that the newspaper was persecuting him by printing Krazy Kat cartoons. She received serious head injuries which affected her memory: she also became seriously depressed. After two years of illness her father sent her and her brother Al to Europe to recuperate. Returning refreshed to the States, Agnes decided to become a writer, but soon afterwards lost her eyesight for two years as a delayed result of her injuries. During this period she studied dancing, modelled clothes and 'did bits in the movies'. Wrights home in Oak Park, Illinois Lake Theater and shops along Lake Street. ... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM) is an American food production and distribution company based in San Francisco, California. ... Venice Beach and Boardwalk Venice, California, is a district of the city of Los Angeles, California. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... The University of California, Berkeley (also known as Cal, UC Berkeley, UCB, or simply Berkeley) is a prestigious, public, coeducational university situated in the foothills of Berkeley, California to the east of San Francisco Bay, overlooking the Golden Gate and its bridge. ... The San Francisco Examiner is a daily newspaper in San Francisco, California, where it has been published continuously since the late 19th Century. ... Detail of a Sunday page in which Ignatz, disguised as a painting, hurls a brick at Krazy Kat, who interprets it as an expression of love. ...

In 1934 she married Henry Keith, known as Harry. Keith, an Englishman, had been a friend of Al's when both boys had been at the same school in San Diego, and Agnes had first met him when she was eight. Keith had gone on to work for the Government of North Borneo, and when he visited California whilst on leave in 1934, Agnes had not seen him for ten years. However, as soon as they re-met they decided to get married. This they did, after waiting three days for the licence to mature. Three months later, following an operation to cure Agnes' eyesight, they sailed for Borneo. Flag Seal Nickname: Americas Finest City Location Location of San Diego within San Diego County Coordinates , Government County San Diego Mayor City Attorney         City Council District One District Two District Three District Four District Five District Six District Seven District Eight Jerry Sanders (R) Michael Aguirre Scott Peters Kevin...

Life in Borneo

Harry was Conservator of Forests and Director of Agriculture for the government of North Borneo under the Chartered Company, and was based in Sandakan. He had worked in Borneo since 1925. Agnes spent an idyllic five years at Sandakan, sometimes accompanying her husband on trips into the interior of the country. Harry persuaded her to write about her experiences and enter it in the 1939 Atlantic Monthly Non-fiction Prize contest. The judges voted unanimously for her entry to win, and it was partly serialised in the magazine before being published in November of that year as Land Below the Wind. The book received favourable reviews: The Scotsman described it as "A delightful book ... It has abundant humour and a pervading charm ... An original and engaging description of a country and people of extraordinary interest". The British North Borneo Company was chartered company assigned to administer North Borneo (todays Sabah in Malaysia) in August 1881 and North Borneo became a protectorate of the British Empire with internal affairs administered by the company until 1946 when it became the colony of British North Borneo. ... Sandakan as viewed from the English Tea House Sandakan is the second-largest town in the state of Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern of island of Borneo. ... The Atlantic Monthly (also known as The Atlantic) is an American literary/cultural magazine that was founded in November 1857. ... The Scotsmans offices in Edinburgh The Scotsman is a Scottish newspaper published in Edinburgh. ...

The Keiths were on leave in Canada when war was declared on 3 September 1939. Harry was immediately ordered back to Borneo. Agnes' first child, Henry George Newton Keith, known as George, was born in Sandakan on 5 April 1940.

The Japanese invading forces landed in Sandakan on 19 January 1942. For the first few months of occupation, the Keiths were allowed to stay in their own home. On 12 May Agnes and George were imprisoned on Berhala Island (Pulau Berhala) near Sandakan, in a building that had once been the Government Quarantine Station, along with other Western women and children. Harry was imprisoned nearby. They spent eight months there before Agnes and George were sent to Kuching in Sarawak. They left by a small steamer on 12 January 1943 and arrived on 20 January. They were imprisoned in Batu Lintang camp near Kuching, unusual in that it accommodated both Prisoners of War and civilian internees in eight separate compounds. Harry later arrived at the camp. The camp was finally liberated on 11 September 1945 by the 9th Australian Army Division under the command of Brigadier General T. C. Eastick. All three members of the Keith family had survived their internment. Location Location in Malaysia Government Country State Malaysia Sarawak Establishment Uncertain, granted city status in 1988 Mayors North: Abdul Hamid Mohd Yusoff South: Chong Ted Tsiung Geographical characteristics Area  - City 4,559. ... State motto: United, Industrious, Dedicated (Malay: Bersatu, Berusaha, Berbakti ) Capital Kuching Governor T.Y.T Tun Datuk Patinggi Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Chief Minister Y.A.B. Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Haji Abdul Taib Bin Mahmud / Pehin Sri Dr. Hj. ...

The Keiths returned to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where Harry had had a small country house since his bachelor days. In February 1946 he was asked to return to Borneo by the new Colonial Administration which had taken over from the Chartered Company. He was to be in charge of food production. He agreed to go, and so he and his family were split yet again. Agnes and George remained in Victoria, and Agnes worked on her second book. Whilst in the camp she had kept notes and diary entries, even though this was punishable by death. After her release she gathered up the notes from their various hiding places and used them as the basis for her book, Three Came Home, which was published in April 1947. It detailed the hardships and deprivations which the internees and POWs had undergone under the Japanese, and became a best-seller. In 1950 it was turned into a motion picture, with Claudette Colbert playing the role of Agnes. Victoria may refer to: // Victoria of the United Kingdom, aka Queen Victoria, former British monarch Victoria (Australia), a state in Australia Victoria, British Columbia, the capital of the Canadian province Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory Victoria may also refer to: Victoria (name) Main disambiguation page: Victoria of the United... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Official languages English de facto (none stated in law) Flower Pacific dogwood Tree Western Redcedar Bird Stellers Jay Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 36 6 Area... Claudette Colbert, Mrs. ...

Agnes and George finally returned to Sandakan in 1947, a full year after Harry. Borneo was a much-changed place, having suffered doubly, first under the Japanese occupation and then from the ferocious Allied attacks as the liberation of the island took place. In 1951 the third book in Agnes' Borneo trilogy was published: White Man Returns. This chronicled the time from Agnes and George's return to Borneo up to December 1950. The Keiths remained in Sandakan until 1952.

Agnes' and Harry's daughter, Jean, was born some time in the early fifties. Little is known about her: copies of White Man Returns are dedicated "To my children George and Jean".

Philippines, Libya and later years

In 1953 Harry joined the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, and was posted to the Philippines, based in Manila. Agnes wrote Bare Feet in the Palace about post-war life in the Philippines, culminating in the 1953 election. It was published in 1955. With its headquarters in Rome, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations programs seek to raise levels of nutrition and standard of living; to improve the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of food and agricultural products; to promote rural development; and, by these means, to eliminate hunger. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... The City of Manila (Filipino: Lungsod ng Maynila), or simply Manila, is the capital of the Philippines. ...

Harry then became FAO Representative in Libya, and served six years as forestry advisor in the country. He retired in 1964. True to form, Agnes wrote about her experiences in the country, publishing Children of Allah, between the Sea and the Sahara in 1966.

The Keiths retired to British Columbia, where Agnes continued writing. Her first novel, Beloved Exiles, was published in 1972. It was set in North Borneo in the period between 1936 and 1951. Her last book, Before the Blossoms Fall: Life and Death in Japan was published in 1975.

Agnes Newton Keith died 30 March 1982 in Oak Bay, Victoria, British Columbia. Harry died the same year. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Newlands

On arriving in Sandakan in 1934, Agnes moved in to Harry's bachelor bungalow, but the couple soon relocated to a government building on a hilltop. They lived there until they were interned in 1942. After the war the Keiths returned to Sandakan to find the house destroyed. They built a new house in 1946-1947 on the original footprint and in a similar style to the original. They named this house Newlands and lived there until they left Sabah in 1952. After nearly fifty years of gradual deterioration, first under tenants and then as an empty shell, the house was restored by Sabah Museum in collaboration with the Federal Department of Museums and Antiquities in 2001. The house is a rare survival of post-war colonial wooden architecture. It was opened to the public in 2004 and is a popular tourist attraction: it contains displays on Agnes and Harry Keith as well as information about colonial life in Sandakan in the 1900s.

The Keith’s library

Both Agnes and Harry Keith were ardent bibliophiles. Following their deaths, their collection of books and documents on Borneo and South East Asia was auctioned. The collection numbered over 1000 volumes, and had been gathered over many years. Agnes wrote of the collection, which they were forced to abandon to the occupying Japanese forces, in Three Came Home: "Harry's library of Borneo books, perhaps the most complete in existence, his one self-indulgence..." The auction press release commented that "Many of these items are not listed in any institutional holdings, including the British Library, and may well be the only surviving extant copies". British Library Ossulston St entrance, with distinctive red logo. ...

Legacy

The title of Agnes' first book about the then-North Borneo, Land Below the Wind, has become the unofficial motto of Sabah. The phrase was used by sailors to describe all the lands south of the typhoon belt, but Agnes applied it exclusively to North Borneo in her book. Cyclone Catarina, a rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone viewed from the International Space Station on March 26, 2004. ...

As well as inspiring the film of the same name, Three Came Home has been cited as one of the sources for cinematic and television depictions of women in Japanese camps during World War 2: Paradise Road and Tenko (TV series) both contain scenes based on episodes in the book. Paradise Road is a 1997 drama film starring Glenn Close and Frances McDormand. ... Tenko is a television drama, co-produced by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). ...

Bibliography

• Land Below the Wind Boston, Mass, Little Brown and Company (1939, November)
• Three Came Home Boston, Mass, Little Brown and Company (1947, April)
• White Man Returns Boston, Mass, Little Brown and Company (1951)
• Bare Feet in the Palace Boston, Mass, Little Brown and Company (1955)
• Children of Allah, between the Sea and the Sahara Boston, Mass, Little Brown and Company (1966)
• Beloved Exiles Boston, Mass, Little Brown and Company (1972)
• Before the Blossoms Fall: Life and Death in Japan Boston, Mass, Atlantic Monthly-Little, Brown and Company (1975)
• Agnes Newton Keith also had articles published in the Atlantic Monthly.

Further reading

Moo-Tan, Stella (2002) "A Portrait of Agnes Newton Keith: Noted Author, Survivor, Heroine" Sabah Society Journal 19

External links

• Tourist information for Newlands, Agnes Newton Keith's house in Sandakan
• Report on a trip by members of Heritage of Malaysia Trust to Newlands
• Press release on the auction of the Keiths' library in 2002