1. John Cash Neild was an Australian politician who served as the member for the Paddington electorate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for three intermittent periods between January 1885 and June 1901.
73 Facts About John Neild
1. 2.
John Neild's dogged determination and financial problems led to the downfall of the George Reid's government in 1899, when it was revealed that Reid had been persuaded to advance an expenses payment to Neild, for a report into old-age pensions, without previous parliamentary consent.
3.
In 1896 John Neild was one of the founders of a volunteer military corps called St George's English Rifles, serving as its commanding officer from its inception until 1905.
4.
John Neild was a frequent subject of satire by writers, cartoonists and his political opponents.
5.
John Neild's father was a surgeon and his mother was the daughter of a banker.
6.
John Neild was educated privately, by a tutor and attending private schools.
7.
In October 1865 John Neild commenced business as a broker and commission agent, located in the Lyons Buildings in George Street, Sydney.
8.
In November 1866 John Neild successfully applied to the Municipality of Cook at Camperdown, an inner western suburb of Sydney, for the use of a room in the council chambers for the purpose of holding divine worship by the FCE.
9.
On 29 October 1868 John Neild married Clara Agnew, the eldest daughter of Rev Philip Agnew, founder of the Free Church of England in New South Wales, and his wife Matilda.
10.
In October 1869 John Neild was listed as a member of the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment in New South Wales.
11.
John Neild was recorded as carrying on business as an actuary and accountant.
12.
In September 1875 John Neild was one of a group of "influential residents of Woollahra" who signed a requisition calling for the establishment of a volunteer fire brigade in the Borough of Woollahra.
13.
In January 1876 John Neild was nominated to stand as an alderman in Piper Ward of the Borough of Woollahra.
14.
John Neild was elected to the municipal council in 1876.
15.
In January 1878 Alderman John Neild was appointed to act as the Council returning officer for elections to be held in the following month.
16.
Clara John Neild died on 16 September 1879 at her residence, 'Greycairn' in Edgcliff Road, Woollahra, "after a long illness".
17.
John Neild remarried on 19 February 1880 at St Paul's Anglican Church in Redfern, to Georgine Uhr, the daughter of the late George Uhr, a former Sheriff of New South Wales.
18.
At the colonial election of December 1882 John Neild stood as an independent candidate for the electorate of Paddington in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.
19.
John Neild stood for a seat in the Paddington electorate again in the New South Wales general election of November 1885, this time a three-member electorate.
20.
John Neild made his first speech in the Legislative Assembly on 20 November 1885, delivering "a general condemnation" of the protectionist Dibbs government.
21.
On 18 June 1886 the leader of the opposition in the New South Wales parliament, Sir John Neild Robertson, retired from public life on medical advice, in the process resigning from his seat for the Mudgee electorate.
22.
John Neild continued throughout the night until ten minutes to seven the following morning.
23.
John Neild's speech was confined to the question of custom duties and was delivered "from an ultra free-trade point of view".
24.
At a meeting with John Neild, Parkes "made certain explanations to him and gave him certain assurances"; for his part John Neild claimed that "the explanations were unnecessary [as] he in no way sought office".
25.
In February 1887 John Neild was described in the following terms: "Celebrated for the length of his oratory and of his moustache, although his vanity is more extensive than either; a man of great expectations, and probably the greatest disappointment of his life was that he was not asked by Sir Henry Parkes to take office".
26.
In 1887 John Neild was appointed as executive commissioner for New South Wales at the Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition, which opened in June that year.
27.
John Neild had made a speech in parliament, sharply criticising the government's financial management, and Parkes reacted by relating an anecdote about a pig-farmer: "One day hearing a considerable amount of squalling, and seeking to discover the cause for the noise, he found one little pig crying because he had not a teat to suck".
28.
John Neild claimed the premier "had reversed nature, because while the litter sucked the sow, Sir Henry Parkes sucked his litter".
29.
John Neild had remained an alderman of the Woollahra Municipal Council after being elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly.
30.
In June 1888, upon the resignation of William Trickett, John Neild was unanimously elected to the office of mayor of Woollahra.
31.
John Neild remained as mayor of Woollahra until February 1890 when Thomas Magney was elected in his place.
32.
John Neild did not attend any subsequent council meetings and in June 1890 he sent a letter tendering his resignation as alderman.
33.
John Neild had temporarily moved from Sydney to Gosford after February 1890, where he was working as an auctioneer.
34.
John Neild's liabilities were estimated to be approximately ten thousand pounds, against which there were assets of about six thousand pounds.
35.
John Neild had joined the Loyal Orange Institution of New South Wales in 1883, an affiliated lodge of the Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland.
36.
John Neild was re-elected as a member of the four-member Paddington electorate in the New South Wales election of June 1891.
37.
John Neild's bill passed the Legislative Assembly in August 1891 and the Legislative Council in March 1892.
38.
John Neild introduced a bill for divorce reform, extending the grounds for dissolution of marriage to include desertion, habitual drunkenness, assault or imprisonment for at least seven years.
39.
John Neild's Divorce Act Extension and Amendment Bill was passed in the Legislative Assembly in February 1892.
40.
At the New South Wales general election in July 1895 John Neild was elected as the member for Paddington, polling first against two other free-trade candidates.
41.
In February 1896 an anthology of John Neild's poetry was published, titled Songs 'Neath the Southern Cross.
42.
In late March 1896 John Neild responded to critics of his poetry by holding a public lecture, during which he fulminated against critics across the breadth of British literary history before expressing his grievances in "sweeping diatribes" about critics of his own poetry.
43.
In May 1896 John Neild was one of a group of men who initiated the establishment of a volunteer military corps known as 'St George's English Rifles'.
44.
The St George's Rifles initially consisted of a three companies, with John Neild appointed to the rank of major and commanding officer in August 1896.
45.
In February 1898 the corps was gazetted as the 7th Volunteer Infantry Regiment and in the following April John Neild was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
46.
John Neild's trip was on private business, but in addition he had been given a "roving commission" by the premier George Reid to inquire into and report upon systems of old-age pensions in Britain and Europe.
47.
In November 1896, while John Neild was in London, the Freeman's Journal drew attention to a description of him in London's The Times as the "Commissioner for Charities for New South Wales, who has been empowered to visit Europe and report upon the questions of old-age pensions and the distribution of charitable relief".
48.
In June 1898 John Neild was seriously ill, suffering from bronchitis, gastritis and measles, to the extent that attending doctors "held out little hopes for his recovery".
49.
The Premier George Reid later wrote that he had expected John Neild to produce a comparatively small document that could be printed as a parliamentary paper.
50.
An account of the manoeuvres reported that "their commanding officer, Colonel John Neild, was discovered later on careering wildly about on his charger in search of his three missing companies".
51.
Towards the end of the 'battle' John Neild was described as being "cooped up in a paddock" with the remnants of his regiment, "hardly knowing what was expected of him".
52.
John Neild's letters were addressed to Bayly, but adversely criticised the action of major-general French and other officers of the headquarters staff.
53.
John Neild claimed the right, when not actually on military duty, to write letters to newspapers criticising the actions of military authorities.
54.
John Neild was one of five Free Trade candidates elected to the Senate for New South Wales.
55.
Senator John Neild wore the scarlet dress uniform of the St George's Rifles at the opening of the first Australian parliament, in a ceremony on 9 May 1901 in the western annexe of the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.
56.
John Neild was an active member on some of the Senate's first committees.
57.
John Neild was not a supporter of party discipline and refused to adhere to the discipline imposed by Sir Josiah Symon in his role as leader of the Free Trade senators.
58.
John Neild criticised the Deakin government for its efforts to deport Kanakas "who had become naturalised British subjects, who had sworn fealty to the Crown" and denounced the catch-cry of 'white Australia' as a "fraud and a sham".
59.
However John Neild refused, claiming to be "in the pink of condition", after which Hutton wrote to the Minister of Defence, Austin Chapman, recommending that John Neild "should be retired on account of his speeches in the Senate, and because of the alleged disaffection in his regiment".
60.
When John Neild was interviewed about the situation, he said defiantly: "I am 58 years of age and I will have to retire in two years, but hang me if I am going to be kicked out".
61.
On 21 April 1904 John Neild brought forward "a matter of privilege" in the Senate, and successfully moved for the appointment of a select committee to investigate whether General Hutton had sought to intimidate or interfere with him in the discharge of his duties as a senator.
62.
In January 1905 it was reported that Lieutenant-Colonel John Neild, having "been on leave for several months consequent on ill health and Parliamentary engagements", has resumed active duty as commanding officer of the St George's English Rifles.
63.
John Neild introduced a number of bills in his remaining five years in the Senate, all of which lapsed.
64.
John Neild continued to speak out on civil rights issues, defending army officers and Muslim camel drivers and expessing opposition to compulsory military training for boys.
65.
John Neild continued to oppose elements of the White Australia policy, raising concerns about Australian-born children of Kanaka labourers.
66.
John Neild was defeated at the general election in April 1910.
67.
John Neild was known for "his remarkable capacity for letter writing", with a "tenacity of purpose" bordering on a mania.
68.
Towards the end of his life John Neild suffered from hepatic cirrhosis.
69.
John Cash Neild died on 8 March 1911 at his home in Edgecliff Road, Woollahra, aged 65.
70.
John Neild received a military funeral and was buried at Waverley Cemetery in Sydney, with Anglican rites.
71.
The cartoon 'Jawbone John Neild, and Where He Got His Weapon' was a caricature of the member for Paddington holding aloft the jawbone of an ass, with the head of a donkey at his feet.
72.
Amongst those listed was J C Neild who went as "Sampson with the jawbone of an ass ".
73.
John Neild's poetry, described as "an awkward combination of the mannered and the vernacular", was a source of satire, in particular the much-quoted and parodied line: "Eftsoons a nocent watersprout would rise".