| Authorised form of name | Neile; Sir; Paul (1613 - 1686); courtier and patron of science |
| Other forms of surname | Neale |
| Dates | 1613 - 1686 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Westminster, London, England, Europe |
| Date of birth | c.1613 |
| Place of death | London, England, Europe |
| DatesAndPlaces | Baptism:
St Margaret's, Westminster, London, England, Europe (11 May 1613) |
| Research field | Optics |
| Activity | Education:
Pembroke College, Cambridge (admitted 1627; BA 1631)
Career:
Indicted for manslaughter (1636) but his father secured him a royal pardon; MP for Ripon (1640); provided telescopes for Seth Ward's observatory at Wadham College, Oxford, and Gresham College and for diplomatic and royal gifts; Gentleman Usher to the Privy Chamber (1662); Published 'Discourse on cider' in John Evelyn's 'Sylva' (1664); Commissioner for Appeals in Excise; MP for Newark, Nottinghamshire (1673-1677)
Honours:
Kt 1633
|
| Membership category | Founder Fellow |
| Date of election | 28/11/1660 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
Served on council continuously from the first in 1663 until 1673 and then at intervals until 1678.
Committee and panels:
Committee to consider a way of determining the measure of a degree on earth (1669); Mechanical Committee ; Committee for account audits (1671) ; Involvement with negotations regarding Chelsea College and its sale. |
| Relationships | Parents: Richard Neile, Archbishop of York (1562-1640) and Dorothy Dacre (d. 1647)
Married: Elizabeth Clarke
Children: William Neile (FRS 1663) and Richard Neile (b. 1640); Elizabeth (b.1637) and Mary (b.1641) |
| OtherInfo | During the period of civil war in England, Neile was one of the signatories of the Yorkshire engagement in support of the royalist cause.
In 1670, Neile is listed as one of the original 'adventurers' in the Royal Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company. Charles II granted the charter establishing the Hudson's Bay Company, officially "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay," on May 2, 1670. The charter aimed to establish a trade monopoly on the Eastern coast of what is now Canada and claimed 1.5 million square kilometres of land inhabited by Inuit and First Nations communities (everything in the Hudson river network of waterways), this grew to eight million square kilometres which was dubbed Rupert's Land. The 'adventurers' and traders employed by the HBC did the work of colonizing and nation-building, such as mapping British Columbia's interior and charting the Arctic coast, almost always with the help of Indigenous guides. The Company's aim was territorial expansion and geographical knowledge as well as resource extraction. The company depended on Indigenous hunters to bring them the furs they sold in Europe and made the Company shareholders very wealthy. This trading relationship was often cordial and mutually beneficial but introduced and advanced the spread of diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis, to which Indigenous Peoples had no immunity. Attitudes toward Indigenous Peoples grew more disdainful by the mid-1800s, as HBC officials became more comfortable in the region and relied less on Indigenous knowledge. In 1868, the Rupert's Land Act was passed, an agreement to transfer the region from the HBC to the recently confederated states of Canada disregarding the Indigenous Nations' ownership of the land and their resistance to its transfer to a colonial power. The HBC continued to operate as a commercial company and operated some 100 stores in Indigenous communities into the 20th century, setting low prices for furs and high prices for their goods, a process that kept Indigenous consumers in a perpetual state of debt. The HBC remains a transnational company. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB (MP); Venn
References:
G H Turnbull, 'Samuel Hartlib's Influence on the Early History of the Royal Society' in NR 1953 vol 10 pp 101-130
C A Ronan and Sir Harold Hartley, 'Sir Paul Neile, FRS (1613-1686)' in NR 1960 vol 15 pp 159-165
Albert Van Helden, 'Christopher Wren's De Corpore Saturni' in NR 1968 vol 23 pp 213-229
Michael Hunter, 'The Social Bias and Changing Fortunes of an Early Scientific Institution: An Analysis of the Membership of the Royal Society, 1660-1685' in NR 1976-7 vol 31 pp 9-114
J Gribbin, 'The Fellowship', 2005, pp158-160
Notes:
In index to BR he is given the standard election date ascribed to the original members of Council in R, 22 Apr 1663. He 'was pleased to offer of himself to be entered one of the Society' (JB, 16 October 1661) |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/289438307 |
| Code | NA8265 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| RBO/2i/59 | 'Sir Paul Neile's Discourse of Cider' | 1663 |
| RBC/2/20 | 'Sir Paul Neiles Discourse of Cyder' | 1663 |
| RBO/2ii/49 | 'Discourse of Cyder' by Sir Paul Neile | 1663 |
| DM/5/73E | 'Experiments and Matters recommended to Mr William Balle' | 1664 |
| MS/390/50 | Bond of Sir Paul Neile to the Treasurer of the Royal Society | 30 November 1674 |
| CLP/8i/5/3 | Drawing, astronomical observations by the Earl of Sandwich [Edward Montagu] | 1662 |
| CLP/6/17 | Paper, 'Observations of Dr Robert Moray, Sir P [Paul] Neil and Dr [Christopher] Wren, made by them in their late excursion into the country' by Robert Moray | [1664] |
| CLP/8i/5/2 | Drawing, astronomical observations by the Earl of Sandwich [Edward Montagu] | 1662 |
| DM/5/67 | 'Transactions of the Mechanicall Committee' | 14 November 1664, 12 May 1665 |
| EL/P1/68 | Extract of a letter, from Henry Powle to Paul Neile | nd |
| DM/5/70 | Resolution signed by Henry Oldenburg, appointing a Committee of the Royal Society to consider a way of determining the measure of a degree on the earth | 21 October 1669 |
| LBO/1/6 | Copy letter from Christopher Wren, Oxford, to Paul Neile | 1 October 1661 |
| CLP/14i/8a | Letter, 'An additional account concerning James Oddy' from Th [Thomas] Bateson to Dr Vavasor | 22 January 1669 |
| CLP/10iii/4 | Paper, 'Sir Paul Neile's discourse of cider' by Paul Neile | [1663] |
| EL/W3/2 | Letter, from Christopher Wren to Paul Neile, dated at Oxford | 1661 |
| CLP/8i/5 | Paper, 'Observations in his in voyage to Portugal' by the Earl of Sandwich [Edward Montagu] | 1662 |
| CLP/8i/5/1 | Manuscript, 'Observations in his in voyage to Portugal' by the Earl of Sandwich [Edward Montagu] | 1662 |
| RBO/1/20 | 'Mr Hobbs's [Thomas Hobbes] Proposition To find two meane proportionalls betweene two straight lines Given' | 1 October 1661 |