Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/264

  [Collins's Peerage, ed. Brydges, v. 161; Doyle's Official Baronage, i. 4; Rowland's Account of the Family of Nevill; Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, 1509–35; G. E. C[okayne]'s Complete Peerage; Metcalfe's Knights, p. 8; Chron. of Calais (Camd. Soc.), p. 312.] 

NEVILLE, GREY (1681–1723), politician, elder son of Richard Neville (1655–1717) of Billingbear, Berkshire, and Catharine, daughter of Ralph Grey, baron Grey of Werke, was born in the parish of St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, London, 23 Sept. 1681. His father, who represented Berkshire in seven parliaments, was third son of Richard Neville (1615–1676) of Billingbear, a gentleman of the privy chamber, and colonel of the forces to Charles I. Grey was elected M.P. for Abingdon 10 May 1705. A petition against his return was unsuccessfully presented by his tory opponent, Sir Simon Harcourt [q. v.] (Journal of House of Commons, vol. xv.) In the next parliament, elected in 1708, Neville sat for Wallingford. On 1 Feb. 1715 he was elected for Berwick-on-Tweed, and was re-elected for the same constituency 31 March 1722. He supported the Act for naturalising foreign protestants in 1708, voted for the impeachment of Dr. Sacheverell, and generally acted with the whigs. When the first schism broke out in the party, he joined the Walpole section, and voted with the majority which threw out the Peerage bill of 1719. Neville's most prominent action as a member of the House of Commons was his defence in 1721 of James Craggs the elder [q. v.] and John Aislabie [q. v.], late chancellor of the exchequer, who had been implicated in the affairs of the South Sea Company.

Neville died on 24 April 1723 at his seat, Billingbear. He was very popular with the dissenters, and left a sum of money to Jeremiah Hunt [q. v.], pastor of the congregational church at Pinner's Hall, to preach a sermon after his death. One condition of the bequest was that his name should not be mentioned in the sermon.

By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Boteler of Woodhall, who died 16 Nov. 1740, Neville had only one child, a daughter, who died in infancy. His portrait was painted by Dahl in 1720, and engraved by G. White. His brother Henry, who was born 17 Aug. 1683, succeeded to the Billingbear estates, and assumed the additional name of Grey. He was elected to the House of Commons for Wendover 21 Nov. 1709, and died in September 1740.

[Daniel Rowland's Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nevill family (Table V gives the pedigree of the Billingbear branch); Noble's Continuation of Granger's Biog. Hist. of England, iii. 247–8; Playfair's British Families of Antiquity, ii. 305 (in which there are slight mistakes); Historical Register, 1723 (Chron. Diary); O'Byrne's Repres. Hist. of Great Britain and Ireland, pp. 85, 180; Official Ret. Memb. Parl.; Parl. Hist. vii. 627, 793, 831, 847–55.] 

NEVILLE, HENRY (1564?–1615), courtier and diplomatist, born in 1564 in all probability (, Table No. v.; but cf., Alumni Oxon. s.v.), was son of Sir Henry Neville of Billingbear, Berkshire, by his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Gresham. He matriculated from Merton College, Oxford, on 20 Dec. 1577, and on 30 Aug. 1605 was created M.A. He was introduced to the court by Lord Burghley, and throughout his life sat in parliament. He was member for New Windsor 1584–5 and 1593, Sussex 1588–9, Liskeard 1597–8, Kent 1601, Lewes 1603–4, and Berkshire 1604–11 and 1614. Neville doubtless for a time carried on the business of an ironfounder in Sussex. He succeeded in 1593, on his father's death, to property in Sussex, but in 1597 sold Mayfield, his residence in the county (Sussex Arch. Coll. ii. 187, 210, 245). A man of high character, he was soon selected for an important service. In 1599 he was sent as ambassador to France and was knighted. While at Calais, on his way to Paris, he had a dispute with the Spanish ambassador as to precedency (cf. Hist. MSS. Comm. 1st Rep. p. 32, and more fully Harl. MS. 1856). At Paris he negotiated the treaty of Boulogne, but complained that he was not over well treated by the French. In February 1600 he was troubled with deafness, and asked to be recalled. He afterwards complained that he had spent 4,000l. while in France. He returned to England in time to take some part in Essex's plot. Although he was not in intimate relations with Essex and his friends, he knew of their designs, and was in the confidence of Southampton (cf., Bacon, ii. 207, &c.) Consequently, when the rebellion failed, Neville was imprisoned in the Tower, brought before the council on 8 July, dismissed from his place, and fined 5,000l. In Elizabeth's last year he agreed to pay that sum in yearly instalments of 1,000l. On James I's accession he was released (10 April 1603) by royal warrant (cf. Court and Times of James I, i. 7). There is an allusion to his danger in one of Ben Jonson's Epigrams (Works, ed. Gifford and Cunningham, 1871, iii. 250).

Under James I Neville played a more prominent rôle in politics. He inclined to the popular party. While at Paris he had been called a puritan. His advice was at all events