Family and Education

b. 1591/2,1 1st s. of Henry Neville of Chevet and Eleanor, da. and coh. of Henry Sandford of Thorpe Salvin, Yorks.2 educ. Trin., Camb. 1608; G. Inn 1610.3 m. (1) 24 Sept. 1615, Rosamund, da. of Cyril Arthington of Arthington, Yorks., 1s. 3da.; (2) Anne, da. of Thomas Tankard of Brampton Hall, Yorks., wid. of William Arthington (d.1623) of Arthington, 1s. 1da.; (3) 1657, Anne, da. and coh. of Charles Markham of Ollerton, Notts., wid. of Robert Waterton of Walton, Yorks. and Sir John Middleton of Thirntoft, Yorks., s.p.4 suc. fa. 1635;5 d. bet. 21 Mar. and 11 Oct. 1666.6 sig. Francis Nevile.

Offices Held

J.p. Yorks. (W. Riding) 1627-44, 1660-d.; commr. recusants, Northern parts 1628, sewers, Trent valley 1634, assessment 1642, 1661-d., array, Yorks. 1642, levying of money (roy.), W. Riding 1642-4, Poll Tax 1660-1, subsidy 1663, corporations 1662.7

Biography

A junior branch of the magnate family, Neville’s ancestors regularly represented Yorkshire in medieval parliaments, acquiring Chevet, near Wakefield, by marriage under Henry VIII. Neville, whose family had strongly Catholic connections, was returned for Boroughbridge in 1628 on the interest of his second wife’s Catholic brother, who had recently inherited estates adjacent to the borough. His only mention in the records of the Parliament was a license to leave Westminster for three weeks on 19 Apr. 1628.8

Re-elected to the Short Parliament in 1640, Neville gave evidence to the Privy Council about speeches in the Commons by Sir John Hotham* and Henry Belasyse*, which led to his arrest by the Long Parliament. During the First Civil War he allowed Sandal Castle to be garrisoned for the king, but he declined to raise a regiment himself. Having allegedly provided £1,450 of supplies for the parliamentarian armies, he paid only £1,000 to compound for his delinquency, a modest sum given his certified annual income of £1,408. Neville’s will, which was signed ­with a mark on 21 Mar. 1666, was proved on 11 October following. No subsequent member of the family sat in Parliament.9

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Author: Simon Healy

Notes

• 1. Aged 73 in 1665: Clay, Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. ii. 158-9.
• 2. Vis. Yorks. ed. Foster, 340.
• 3. Al. Cant.; GI Admiss.
• 4. Clay, Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. i. 70; ii. 158-9, 171; C142/397/26.
• 5. SP17/G, f. 20.
• 6. Borthwick, Reg. Test. 48, f. 27.
• 7. CSP Dom. 1628-9, p. 205; C181/4, f. 174; Northants. RO, FH133; SR, v. 150, 212, 341, 458, 543; Royalist Comp. Pprs. ed. J.W. Clay (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. xviii), 3-5; HMC 8th Rep. i. 275.
• 8. Clay, ii. 154-9; J. Hunter, S. Yorks. ii. 392-5; CJ, i. 885b.
• 9. CJ, ii. 78; Aston Diary ed. J.D. Maltby (Cam. Soc. ser. 4. xxxv), 142-3; P. Mayes and L.A.S. Butler, Sandal Castle Excavations, 9; Royalist Comp. Pprs. 3-5; Borthwick, Reg. Test. 48, f. 27.