Sir Digby Neave, 3rd Baronet

Sir Richard Digby Neave, 3rd Baronet (1793–1868), usually known as Digby Neave, was an English artist and author.

Shield of arms

Early life

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He was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Neave, 2nd Baronet, and brother of Sheffield Neave. He was educated at St Mary's Hall, Oxford, graduating in 1815.[1][2] He later described Edward Penrhyn as a travelling companion of the years 1817–8.[3]

Neave became Steward of the Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower in 1821.[4]

Railway director

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Related by marriage to Abel Rous Dottin—Neave's father-in-law was Dottin's brother-in-law—he attended the initial meeting for the London and Greenwich Railway in October 1831. It took place in Dottin's house at 31 Argyle Street, London.[5][6] Neave became one of the railway company's directors, resigning on 26 November 1836.[7] He was then involved also, as of 1837, in the Dover Railway Company and New Gravesend Railway Company.[8]

Poor Law administrator

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Neave acted as the first Assistant Poor Law Commissioner, in the Chester area, from January 1836. He was then described as a Justice of the Peace, of Havering atte Bower, Essex.[9][10][11] He owed his appointment to the recommendation of "E. Penhryn", writing to John Shaw-Lefevre. This person has been identified as the future Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn, but possibly was his friend Edward Penhryn, a barrister.[12] Another recommendation was from Sir Charles Trevelyan, a cousin, who let it be known that the appointment would please him.[13]

As mentor, Neave had Edward Gulson. They had a meeting in February 1836 at Clumber, with Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle. Another meeting to deal with Nottinghamshire Poor Law union issues, in the context of local politics and personalities, was with Robert Lowe at Bingham.[14]

Edwin Chadwick sought material with which to advocate against the Cheshire Constabulary, set up in 1829, and Neave supplied it.[15] The 1837 general election caused local resistance in Cheshire to poor law reform, which Neave characterised as "backsliding".[16] In implementing the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, he failed to reform the Chester workhouse, which continued on the old basis to the 1860s.[17]

 
Pitt Place, Epsom, the house of Mr. Digby Neave, 1831 watercolour by John Constable

Friendship with John Constable

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Neave was a friend of John Constable, visiting his London studio on 21 May 1819. In 1825 Constable painted portraits of Neave and his brother Sheffield.[18] In the same year, Neave became godfather to Constable's daughter Emily.[19] Constable stayed with him at Epsom;[20] this was at Pitt Place, which at that date, 1831, was leased by Neave from Rowland Stephenson. He and family members later bought it at auction, in 1840.[21]

Later life

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A book from 1841 described Pitt Place as Neave's seat.[22] He became the third baronet, on his father's death in 1848. He later resided at Dagnam Park, Romford, Essex.[23] In 1861 he was elected a member of the Royal Geographical Society.[24]

Works

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Landscape painting, mezzotint after Digby Neave
 
St. Peter's, Vatican, mezzotint after Digby Neave

Neave was a landscape painter, and exhibited at the Royal Academy A Scene in the New Forest.[25] Two of his landscapes were engraved by David Lucas.[26]

Four Days in Connemara (1852), a post-Irish Famine travelogue by Neave, was called "more polemical than topographical" by The Athenaeum.[27] It took an interest in workhouses and places of correction.[28] Four Days also expressed great anxiety over the impending Irish elections of Autumn 1852, which saw a return of a great many Irish MPs from throughout the country intent on working together to reform Ireland's landholding policies (see Charles Gavan Duffy The League of North and South: An Episode of Irish History, 1850-1854).

Family

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Mary Neave

Neave married Mary Arundell, daughter of James Everard Arundell, 9th Baron Arundell of Wardour (died 29 August 1849).[29][30] They had six sons and five daughters:[31]

  1. Arundell Neave, 4th Baronet, married Gwyn Gertrude Hughes, daughter of William Hughes, 1st Baron Dinorben.[31] Their son Thomas Lewis Hughes Neave, 5th Baronet was a major landowner, holding nearly 10,000 acres in England and Wales.[32]
  2. Edward Digby (1830–1858), Bombay Civil Service.[31]
  3. Kenelm (d. 1861), Bombay Army.[31]
  4. Wyndham (d. 1858), 71st Highlanders, died in action in Morar, Gwalior on 16 June during the Central Indian campaign of 1858.[31][33]
  5. Ednowain Reginald, graduated B.A. 1865 at Trinity Hall, Cambridge[34]
  6. Augustus, died an infant.[31] (Not counted in the sons are Reginald, died an infant on 2 April 1836, and Edgar, died 10 July 1849, aged 11 months.)[35][36]

And

  1. Mary Blanche, married 1860 the barrister John Richard Westgarth Hale (later surname Hildyard) (died 1888)[37]
  2. Frances Eleanor
  3. Venetia, married 1860 the cleric and landowner John Whitaker Maitland[38]
  4. Cicely, married 1863 the barrister Wyndham Slade, son of Sir John Slade, 1st Baronet by his second wife[39][40]
  5. Mariquita, married 1874 Alexander George Middleton, a second cousin.[41]
Coat of arms of Sir Digby Neave, 3rd Baronet
Crest
Out of a ducal coronet Gold a lily stalked and leaved Vert flowered and seeded Or.
Escutcheon
Argent on a cross Sable five fleurs-de-lis Or.
Motto
Sola Proba Quae Honesta [42]

Notes

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  1. ^ G. H. Townsend, ed. (1869). The Handbook of the year. p. 359.
  2. ^ Edward Cave; John Nichols (1848). The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. Edw. Cave.
  3. ^ Four Days in Connemara (PDF), at p. 1
  4. ^ "The History of Harold Hill and Noak Hill B Lingham". Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  5. ^ Ronald Henry George Thomas (1986). London's First Railway: The London and Greenwich. B. T. Batsford Limited. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-7134-5414-7.
  6. ^ The Late Elections: An Impartial Statement of All Proceedings Connected with the Progress and Result of the Late Elections. To which is Affixed a Table Noting Every Change of Members and the Closing Numbers of the Contested Polls ... Such Biographical Notices are Added as May Enable the Country to Form a Judgement of the Influence Likely to Predominate in the New House of Commons. Bensley. 1818. p. 508.
  7. ^ Ronald Henry George Thomas (1986). London's First Railway: The London and Greenwich. B. T. Batsford Limited. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-7134-5414-7.
  8. ^ Herapath's Railway Journal. 1837. p. 387.
  9. ^ Lorie Charlesworth (16 December 2009). Welfare's Forgotten Past: A Socio-Legal History of the Poor Law. Routledge. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-135-17964-9.
  10. ^ Justice of the Peace and County, Borough, Poor Law Union and Parish Law Recorder. Henry Shaw. 1838. p. 586.
  11. ^ London gazette (1836). Bulletins of the campaign [compiled from the London gazette]. [Continued as] Bulletins of State intelligence, &c. p. 15.
  12. ^ Anthony Brundage (1978). The Making of the new Poor law: the politics of inquiry, enactment, and implementation, 1832–1839. Rutgers University Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-8135-0855-9.
  13. ^ Jenifer Hart, Sir Charles Trevelyan at the Treasury, The English Historical Review Vol. 75, No. 294 (Jan., 1960), pp. 92–110, at p. 98. Published by: Oxford University Press. JSTOR 558803
  14. ^ Anthony Brundage (1978). The Making of the new Poor law: the politics of inquiry, enactment, and implementation, 1832–1839. Rutgers University Press. pp. 136 and 138. ISBN 978-0-8135-0855-9.
  15. ^ Anthony Brundage (1988). England's "Prussian Minister": Edwin Chadwick and the Politics of Government Growth, 1832–1854. Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-271-00629-1.
  16. ^ Anthony Brundage (1978). The Making of the new Poor law: the politics of inquiry, enactment, and implementation, 1832–1839. Rutgers University Press. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-8135-0855-9.
  17. ^ Lorie Charlesworth (16 December 2009). Welfare's Forgotten Past: A Socio-Legal History of the Poor Law. Routledge. p. 231. ISBN 978-1-135-17963-2.
  18. ^ John Constable, Toward A Complete Chronology, Edited by Charles S. Rhyne, Reed College (PDF) at p. 134 and p. 208
  19. ^ Constable Portraits, The Painter and his Circle (PDF) at p. 31
  20. ^ John Constable (2 September 2015). Delphi Collected Works of John Constable (Illustrated). Delphi Classics. p. 504. GGKEY:2D3EBHAYY8N.
  21. ^ "Epsom & Ewell History Explorer" (PDF).
  22. ^ Edward Wedlake Brayley; John Britton (1841). A Topographical History of Surrey. p. 368.
  23. ^ The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, of Great Britain and Ireland. Whittaker And Company. 1862. p. 429.
  24. ^ Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of LondonVol. 5, No. 2 (1860–1861), p. 54. Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) DOI: 10.2307/1798837 JSTOR 1798837
  25. ^ Wood, Christopher (1981). The Dictionary of Victorian Painters. Antique Collectors Club. p. 339. ISBN 0902028723.
  26. ^ "The Burlington Magazine". Internet Archive. London: The Burlington Magazine, Ltd. October 1914 – March 1915. p. 114. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  27. ^ The Athenæum: A Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama. J. Francis. 1853. p. 191.
  28. ^ Glenn Hooper, The Wasteland: Writing and Resettlement in Post-Famine Ireland, The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies Vol. 23, No. 2 (Dec., 1997), pp. 55–76, at p. 73. Published by: Canadian Journal of Irish Studies. DOI: 10.2307/25515223 JSTOR 25515223
  29. ^ Edmund Lodge; Anne Innes; Eliza Innes; Maria Innes (1833). The Peerage of the British Empire as at Present Existing: Arranged and Printed from the Personal Communications of the Nobility. Saunders and Otley. p. 27.
  30. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine. W. Pickering. 1849. p. 441.
  31. ^ a b c d e f Burke, Bernard (1903). Ashworth P. Burke (ed.). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (65th ed.). London: Harrison and Sons. p. 1118.
  32. ^ Bateman, John (1883). "The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland; a list of all owners of three thousand acres and upwards". Internet Archive. London: Harrison. p. 329. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  33. ^ "Lord Macleod's Highlanders 1858–1874, www.coghlan.co.uk". Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  34. ^ "Neave, Ednowain Reginald (NV861RE)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  35. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine. F. Jefferies. 1836. p. 564.
  36. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine. A. Dodd and A. Smith. 1849. pp. 325–.
  37. ^ "Hale (post Hildyard), John Richard Westgarth (HL832JR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  38. ^ "Maitland, John Whitaker (MTLT850JW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  39. ^ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1868. p. 1013.
  40. ^ Burke, Bernard (1903). Ashworth P. Burke (ed.). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (65th ed.). London: Harrison and Sons. p. 1395.
  41. ^ Joseph Foster (1881). The Baronetage and Knightage. Nichols and Sons. p. 458.
  42. ^ Burke's Peerage. 1949.
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Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by
Thomas Neave
Baronet
(of Dagnam Park)
1848–1868
Succeeded by
Arundell Neave