▶Date of birth:  12 November 1868        Place of birth: Craigavad, Rockport, Co. Down

▶Father:  Henry James Neill     Mother: Isabella Gray

▶Spouse(s):  Margaret Penelope Monro    Date(s) of marriage:  5 November 1897     Place(s) of marriage: Ranaghat Medical Mission, Bengal

▶Occupation: Clergyman (Anglican), Medical Missionary

▶Lifestory: The unusual career of the Revd. Charles Neill saw him alternate between periods as a medical missionary in India and as a parish curate, priest, and clerical administrator in Britain. He was born in 1868 at Craigavad, Rockport, Co. Down, the fifth son of Henry James Neill, a wine merchant from Rockport, and his wife Isabella, daughter of William Grey Esq., of Geelong, Victoria, in Australia. In 1886 Neill matriculated at Caius College, Cambridge, BA 1889, BB, BChir, MA 1894.

Neill spent some years after university as a medical missionary in India, and it was there that he married Margaret Penelope LRCPSE, daughter of Sir James Munro CB, Bengal Civil Service, and Lady Munro, of Cheltenham. In 1900 the Revd. Neill was a medical missionary at Ranaghat, Nuddea, Bengal, where he remained for seven years.

Returning from India to Britain he took holy orders and was ordained Deacon in 1903, and Priest (both Durham) the following year. Between 1903 and 1904 he was licensed Curate of Haughton-le-Skerne, Durham. The path of his career was very unusual, with very short-term appointments at many English parishes, interspersed with periods working abroad as a medical missionary.

He returned to Ranaghat as a missionary 1906-7, and then came back to England to become Curate at Liskeard in Cornwall 1907-8. In 1908 he came to Cheltenham, where he was appointed Curate of St Mary’s Church; between 1908 and 1909 he lived at Deerhurst (now Clarence Villa), Clarence Square, Pittville, and in 1909 he moved to Clunie, in Queens Road, Cheltenham (he was also registered as the owner of Heath Lodge on Pittville Circus).­­­­ From 1910 until 1913 he served as Vicar of St Mark’s Church, in Cheltenham; by 1913 his health was poor, and he considered requesting a period of six months’ leave in which he might rest away from his work, but in the end he resigned his post. Over this period (1910-13) he also served as Organising Secretary for the Church Missionary Society in the dioceses of Gloucester and Worcester; he lectured in Cheltenham about his experiences as a medical missionary.

Almost immediately after leaving Cheltenham he took up another, smaller post, as Vicar of Nutley, Uckfield, in Sussex. His health clearly improved, and after serving at Nutley for over two years he assumed the curacy of Liskeard again 1916-17, before being appointed Vicar of Christ Church, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire. At this point he moved away from parish duties for a while, becoming Secretary to the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews 1918-19, after which he spent two years (1919-1920) as a missionary in Jerusalem.

He returned to England in 1920, spending a a year as Rector of Thorpe-Mandeville, Northamptonshire 1920-1, and then as Vicar of Great Baddow, Essex 1921-4. Again the call of missionary work came to him, and he spent the years from 1925 to 1931 as a missionary in Mirzapur, in India, coming back in 1932 to spend three years as Vicar of Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire 1932-4. Between 1936 and 1937 he served as Vicar of Little Arnwell, Hertfordshire, and in 1939 was appointed Vicar of St Keverne with Coverack, in Cornwall. Neill moved on from Cornwall in 1940 to become Rector of Shermanbury in Sussex until 1941, before serving as Rector of Barnwell, Northamptonshire 1943-5.

He revisited his old friends in Cheltenham in 1946 and then returned to India, again as a medical missionary, as Chaplain at All Saints’ Church, Coonoor, Nilgiris, in southern India, where he lived latterly at his home, Homeleigh. He died there in 1949, at the age of eighty. In England his estate at death was valued at just over £7,000.

▶Moved to Pittville from:  Liskeard, Cornwall      Moved from Pittville to: Nutley, Uckfield

▶Date of death:  9 April 1949      Place of death: Coonoor, Nilgiris, southern India

▶Date of burial:         Place of burial:

▶Notes:        ID: 17380

Contributor(s):  John Simpson