John Neeld
Sir John Neeld, 1st Baronet (1805–1891) was a member of Parliament for Cricklade between 1835 and 1859, and Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, between 1865 and 1868.
Early life and career
Neeld was one of five sons of Joseph Neeld (1754–1828) and his wife Mary (née Bond) (1765–1857), of Hendon, Middlesex. He was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took a B.A. in 1827 and an M.A. three years later.
In 1840 he was a founding member of the Conservative Club and in 1845 married Lady Eliza Harriet Dickson, setting up home in London. The same year he was appointed to the office of Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Victoria, for which service he was created 1st Baronet Neeld and became entitled to the style "Sir John Neeld" on 20 April 1859.
In 1852 he was offered the position of Junior Lord of the Treasury by Lord Derby, but refused.
Neeld became a major landowner in Wiltshire, having inherited from his brother Joseph in 1856; in 1872 he was High Sheriff of the county.
Death and legacy
Neeld died on 3 September 1891 at Grittleton House, Wiltshire.
His son Algernon William (11 June 1846 – 11 August 1900) inherited the baronetcy; on his death his son, Audley Dallas Neeld, became the 3rd Baronet and inherited Rembrandt's self-portrait of 1669, today in the Mauritshuis. On the Audley's death on 1 May 1941 the title was extinguished.
Neeld's daughter Ada Mary (b. 11 June 1846), twin sister of Algernon, married General Sir George Harry Smith Willis, a British Army General who achieved high office in the 1880s, and they went on to have four sons. Lady Ada Mary Willis (née Neeld) opened the Southsea Railway on 1 July 1885, as her husband was the Lieutenant Governor of Portsmouth at the time.