John Neild
| John Neild | |
|---|---|
Neild in 1901
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| Senator for New South Wales | |
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In office 29 March 1901 – 30 June 1910 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 January 1846 Bristol, England |
| Died | 8 March 1911 (aged 65) Woollahra, New South Wales |
| Nationality | English Australian |
| Political party |
Free Trade (1887–1906) Anti-Socialist (1906–09) Liberal (1909–10) |
| Spouse(s) | Clara Matilda Gertrude Agnew (1868–79) Georgine Marie Louise Uhr (1880–1911) |
| Occupation | Insurance agent |
| Religion | Anglican |
John Cash Neild (4 January 1846 – 8 March 1911) was an English-born Australian politician who served as a Senator from New South Wales from 1901 to 1910.
Neild's family arrived in Australia in 1860, and he worked as an insurance agent and company manager before winning election to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1885. He served intermittently until 1901 and had a tumultuous career as a backbencher, eventually contributing significantly to the fall of the Reid government in 1899. He also established his own volunteer regiment, which had a difficult and sometimes hostile relationship with military command.
Elected in 1901 to the Senate, Neild was a vigorous supporter of old-age pensions, free trade and several other causes, but his ambitions of promotion were never realised. Passionately loyal to the British Empire, he questioned aspects of the White Australia policy and spoke in support of the children of Kanaka labourers facing deportation. His continued disputes with the military, including an attempt to have the commander of the Australian military forces found in contempt of Parliament, saw him lose respect among his colleagues and his later career was spent in comparative isolation. He lost his seat in 1910 and died the following year.
Neild was born in Bristol on 4 January 1846 to Maria Greenwood and John Cash Neild, a surgeon. He was named after his father. In 1853 the family moved to Taranaki in New Zealand, evacuating to Sydney in 1860 to escape the First Taranaki War. On 29 October 1868 Neild married Clara Matilda Gertrude Agnew, whose father Philip founded the New South Wales Free Church of England. Clara died in 1879, three years after the death of the only child of the marriage; Neild remarried on 19 February 1880 at St Paul's Anglican Church in Redfern, to Georgine Marie Louise Uhr, daughter of a former New South Wales sheriff.
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