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The Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex
Reverend John Mason Neale, D.D., son of Cornelius Neale and Susanna Neale [Good]
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John Mason Neale was born in London, January 24th, 1818. His father was a highly-gifted clergyman and his mother a lady remarkable for her force of character. He was brought up as a strict Evangelical, but after entering Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1836, his views soon broadened and he became a co-founder of the "The Ecclesiological Society," its object being to reconstruct the visible worship and Church architecture of England. How vast was the work it accomplished is known to all students of Church history. In 1842 Mr. Neale was made a priest. The next three years he spent abroad with his wife when he wrote magazine articles and pamphlets by the hundred, poems and hymns by the dozen, entered the domain of fiction, but shone most as a Church historian, his uncompleted "History of the Holy Eastern Church" gaining him a world-wide reputation and winning him the special thanks of the Czar of Russia. He came to East Grinstead, as the Warden of Sackville College, in 1846, and here he remained for 20 years, never resting, always devising something for the benefit of his poorer neighbours, always having some literary work on hand. It was while here that he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Hartford College, Connecticut. The hymns composed or translated by him are sung in every country where the Christian faith is known, and the popularity will never fade of such beautiful lines as "Brief life is here our portion," "To thee, O dear, dear country," "Art thou weary?" "Jerusalem the golden" and The day is past and over." He won the Seatonian prize for poetry about a dozen times in all; he was for three years leader writer for The Morning Chronicle; he published works in many different languages - he was a master of about twenty; and the British Museum Library catalogue contains a list of something like 140 books written by him. In 1854 he commenced his work to found The Sisterhood and Orphanage of St Margarets, St Agnes School and the Industrial School for Servants. He never lived to see the completion of his work as he passed away prematurely on the 6th August 1866.


See also The History of East Grinstead published in 1906 and
Date
Type
Information
Source
 
24th January 1818
Born
In the Parish of Chiswick, London
IGI - Family Search
 
2nd April 1818
Christened
At St. Mary's Church in the Parish of Lewisham, London
IGI - Family Search
 
27th July 1842
Married
Sarah Norman Webster at St. Andrew's Church in the County of Cambridge
IGI - Family Search
 
6th August 1844
Birth of a daughter
Sarah Agnes in the Parish of Brighton, Sussex
IGI - Family Search
 
10th April 1846
Birth of a son
Cornelius Vincent Webster in the Parish of East Grinstead, Sussex
IGI - Family Search
 
14th February 1848
Birth of a daughter
Mary Sackville in the Parish of East Grinstead, Sussex
IGI - Family Search
 
11th April 1850
Birth of a daughter
Katherine Ermenild in the Parish of East Grinstead, Sussex
IGI - Family Search
 
30th March 1851
Census
At Sackville College in the Parish of East Grinstead, Sussex; Head; occupation COLLEGE WARDEn
1851 Census
East Grinstead, Sussex
 
2nd May 1853
Birth of a daughter
Margaret Isabel in the Parish of East Grinstead, Sussex
IGI - Family Search
 
1855
J.M. Neale and family, Sackville College
J.M. Neale and family, Sackville College, East Grinstead photographed by Joseph Cundall
Private collection
 
6th August 1866
Died
In the Parish of East Grinstead, Sussex; aged 48 years
The History of East Grinstead
East Grinstead Burial Registers
 
10th August 1866
Buried
At St Swithin Parish Church in the Parish of East Grinstead, Sussex
East Grinstead Burial Registers
 
31st October 1866
Probate
In the Parish of Lewes, Sussex; Effects: under £3,000
Probate Registry of England and Wales

Ancestor's report
Descendent's report
Neal, Neale, Neele, Neail individual records
The ancestral pedigree of Reverend John Mason Neale, D.D.
  
 Cornelius Nealem: 3rd Sep 1816 St. Mary's Church, Lewisham, LondonSusanna Good 
 b: c 1790  b: c 1790 
  
  
 Reverend John Mason Susanna
 b: 24th Jan 1818 Chiswick, London
ch: 2nd Apr 1818 St. Mary's Church, Lewisham, London
d: 6th Aug 1866 East Grinstead, Sussex
bur: 10th Aug 1866 St Swithin Parish Church, East Grinstead, Sussex
 b: 15th Sep 1819
ch: 23rd Feb 1820 St. Pancras Church, London
    
Parental
record
   
   
   
 Reverend John Mason Neale
D.D.
m: 27th Jul 1842 St. Andrew's Church, CambridgeSarah Webster 
 b: 24th Jan 1818 Chiswick, London
ch: 2nd Apr 1818 St. Mary's Church, Lewisham, London
d: 6th Aug 1866 East Grinstead, Sussex
bur: 10th Aug 1866 St Swithin Parish Church, East Grinstead, Sussex
  b: 1814 Cambridgeshire 
  
     
 Sarah Agnes Cornelius Vincent Webster Mary Sackville Katherine Ermenild Margaret Isabel
 b: 6th Aug 1844 Brighton, Sussex b: 10th Apr 1846 East Grinstead, Sussex b: 14th Feb 1848 East Grinstead, Sussex b: 11th Apr 1850 East Grinstead, Sussex b: 2nd May 1853 East Grinstead, Sussex
      
Family
record

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