Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/18

 in the provinces as the Earl of Leicester in Wingfield's 'Mary Stuart' and as Jaques in 'As You Like It.' On 25 Oct. 1884 he was the original George Kingsmill in Mr. Henry Arthur Jones's 'Saints and Sinners' at the Vaudeville.

Thenceforth Neville chiefly confined himself to romantic heroes in melodrama. On 12 Sept. 1885 he was the original Captain Temple in Pettitt and Harris's 'Human Nature' at Drury Lane, and after playing in many like pieces he went to America in 1890 with Sir Augustus Harris's company to sustain that character. He opened at the Boston Theatre, Boston, and appeared as Captain Temple for 200 nights, the play then being re-named 'The Soudan.' On his return to London he appeared at the Princess's on 11 Feb. 1892 as Jack Holt in 'The Great Metropolis,' a nautical melodrama, of which he was part author. During the succeeding fourteen years he continued with occasional interruptions to originate prominent characters in the autumn melodramas at Drury Lane. His last appearance on the stage was at His Majesty's at a matinee on 29 April 1910, when he played Sir Oliver in a scene from 'The School for Scandal.'

Neville's art reflected his buoyant, breezy nature and his generous mind. A romantic actor of the old flamboyant school, he succeeded in prolonging his popularity by an adroit compromise with latter-day conditions. He believed that the principles of acting could be taught, and in 1878 established a dramatic studio in Oxford Street, in whose fortunes he continued for many years to take a vivid interest. In 1875 he published a pamphlet giving the substance of a lecture on 'The Stage, its Past and Present in Relation to Fine Art.'

Although he lived for the theatre, Neville was a man of varied accomplishments. He painted, carved, and modelled with taste, took a keen interest in sport, was a volunteer and crack rifle shot, and once placed the St. George's Vase to the credit of his corps. He was also a man of sound business capacity, and long conducted the George Hotel at Reading.

Neville died at the Esplanade, Seaford, Sussex, on 19 June 1910, from heart failure as the result of an accident, and was buried at Denshaw, Saddleworth, Lancashire. By his marriage with Henrietta Waddell, a non-professional, he left four sons, none of them on the stage. The gross value of his estate was estimated at 18,671l. (see his will in Evening Standard of 23 Nov. 1910). A full-length portrait in oils of him as Count Almaviva in Mortimer's 'The School for Intrigue' (1874), by J. Walton, is in the Garrick Club.



NEWMARCH, CHARLES HENRY (1824–1903), divine and author, born at Burford, Oxfordshire, on 30 March 1824, was second son of George Newmarch, solicitor, of Cirencester, by Mary his wife. He traced his descent as far back as the Norman Conquest. After education from March 1837 at Rugby, whither his elder brother, George Frederick, had gone in 1830, he spent some time in the merchant shipping service and in Eastern travel. Of his Eastern experience he gave an account in 'Five Years in the East,' published in 1847 under the pseudonym of R. N. Hutton, which attracted favourable attention. In 1848 appeared anonymously his interesting 'Recollections of Rugby, by an old Rugbeian' (12mo), and in the same year a novel, 'Jealousy' (3 vols.). Settling in Cirencester, Newmarch showed keen interest in the antiquities of the neighbourhood, and in 1850 wrote with Professor [q. v.] 'Illustrations of the Remains of Roman Art in Cirencester' (4to; 2nd edit. 1851). He was chiefly instrumental in founding in 1851 the 'Cirencester and Swindon Express,' which was soon amalgamated with the 'Wilts and Gloucester Standard.' He was joint editor of the paper, and till the end of his life was a regular contributor under the name of 'Rambler.' He issued with his brother in 1868 a brief account of the 'Newmarch pedigree.'

Newmarch matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1851, graduating B.A. in 1855. Taking holy orders in 1854, he was from 1856 to 1893 rector of Wardley-cum-Belton, Rutland, and rural dean of the district from 1857 to 1867. He was greatly interested in agricultural matters, contributing much to 'Bell's Life' on the subject; he championed the cause of the village labourers, who stoutly defended him against the attacks of Joseph Arch, when Arch visited Belton in his tour of the village districts in 1872. He took an