Sir Robert Newbald Kay was an English solicitor and politician, based in York. The second of five children of William Kay and his wife Ann of Bossall, Kay passed his final Law Society examinations in 1892 and the next year he founded the law firm of Newbald Kay in York which had its offices at Lendal adjacent to the Mansion House where he lived as Lord Mayor. For his wartime services as Sheriff of York, 1914–1915, and chairman of the local recruiting committee, he was knighted in the 1920 New Year Honours.