NEALE, John Preston

1779 - 1847

John Preston Neale was born at Worstead, Norfolk and baptised at Whitechapel, London in April 1779, son of John Neale of Coltishall, Norfolk and his wife Elizabeth Ann née Preston (1741-1820) of Rollesby, Norfolk. As a lad young John visited an uncle in Great Yarmouth when the excellence of his pencil drawings attracted the attention of a gentleman on the business of the General Post Office who offered him an appointment in the Government Department, and he spent the earlier years of his life as a clerk in the London Post Office. He began drawing insects and formed a lifetime friendship with Norfolk artist John Varley (1778-1842) and together they produced the first and only part of 'Cabinet of Nature'. Much of his work was drawn although he also produced watercolour and oil paintings. A contributor to the Royal Academy exhibitions of insects, topographical drawings, and landscapes 1797-1844 also showing at the Oil and the Watercolour Society 1817-1818. He was better known for his architectural drawings and worked for Britton's 'Beauties of England and Wales' and a major work, 'The Views of the Seats, Mansions, Castles, etc. of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland' was published in 6 volumes between 1819-1823. He married Ann Pote and had several daughters and a son Edward Pote Neale (1801-1871), who was later vicar at St Mary’s, Tattingstone, Suffolk. John Preston Neale, bookseller, print-seller and publisher, Bennett Street, Blackfriars, London was declared a bankrupt in November 1829 and his son Revd Edward Pote Neale, then curate at West Hackney, London was in Fleet Prison in 1836 for debt when it was said that his father was a substantial creditor. John married secondly on 8 May 1843, Sarah Matilda Stanes (1820-1898), eldest daughter of Lieut. James Stanes, R.N. John Preston Neale died at Tattingstone, near Ipswich on 14 November 1847, in his 68th year. His widow married again at Trinity Church, Tunbridge Wells on 16 April 1857, Revd Joseph Augustus Miller, curate at Windsor.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from 13 Gloucester Street, Hoxton
1797 833 Insects from Nature
         837 Insects
1798 604 Fruit
from the General Post Office, Lombard Street
1799 860 Composition of Flowers, Fruit, Insects, and Birds
1801 412 A Cottage at Lambeth, known by the name as Bonner's Hall
1804 333 Custom House, Dover
1805 295 Mrnnoch, from the Vale of Festiniog, North Wales
1806 343 Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk
         388 Bishop's Gate, Norwich
from 19 Bennett Street, Blackfriars Road
1808 200 Old Houses near London Bridge
         243 Oxford
         288 Cottages, with part of Magdalen College, Oxford
         435 Henley Bridge, Oxfordshire
         437 Windsor, from Clewer Lane
from 6 Sussex Place, Kent Road
1809 162 Woburn, Buckinghamshire
         242 A distant View of Windsor
         286 Dover, from the Pier
         587 Caernarvon Castle, North Wales
1810 266 View on the Thames near Staines
         855 West Entrance of Norwich Cathedral
         859 The Erpingham Gate, Norwich
from 16 Bennett Street, Blackfriars Road
1814 141 Bysaley Bridge, Monmouthshire
         313 Kidwelly Castle, South Wales
1815 167 View from Cilgeran Castle, looking up the Tievi, South Wales
         387 The Bridge at Newcastle Emlyn, South Wales
1817 737 Southward Bridge, now building, and Stepney Church
         917 North Aisle, Westminster Abbey
         997 Lord Mansfield's Monument, Westminster Abbey
1818 464 Landscape
         471 Landscape
         858 Savoy, London
1828 486 The Town Hall and Quay, Great Yarmouth
from 7 Norfolk Street, Strand
1831 607 Thames Street, Windsor
from 26 Norfolk Street, Strand
1833 568 St Alban's Abbey, Herts.
1837 238 The Chancel of Hitchendon Church, Bucks...in olden times
         472 Eton College, Bucks.
from 34 Bedford Place, Russell Square
1842 685 Windsor Church, Town Hall, and Market Place
from 6 Aberdeen Place, Maida Hill
1844 947 Old Houses, at Oxford

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Works by This Artist