William Keith Neal
| W. Keith Neal | |
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W. Keith Neal and Probin Gun at Bishpstrow House, Wiltshire, 1969
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| Born | William Keith Neal 11 November 1905 Boxmoor, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom |
| Died | 10 April 1990 (aged 84) Guernsey, Channel Islands |
| Occupation | Antique Gun Collector |
| Spouse | Jane Erskine-Murray |
| Children | Diana Margaret Jane |
William Keith Neal (11 November 1905 — 10 April 1990) was an English author, collector and enthusiast who amassed what is considered to be one of the greatest private collections of antique firearms ever assembled. During his lifetime he was regarded as the leading authority on antique firearms in Britain and co-authored "the standard reference work" on the history of British gunmaking between the 16th and late 19th centuries. A Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, his collection of around 2,000 firearms included six items "from the gun cabinet of Louis XIII" and two miniature, gold-inlaid pistols that were reportedly "the last gift Napoléon Bonaparte gave to his three-year-old son before military defeat and subsequent exile."
He acquired his first pistol — a "nasty, cheap" Belgian-made .22 Derringer — while still a pupil at Berkhamsted School. The pistol had been brought into school by another boy and Keith Neal traded a pocket knife for it. Several months later he accidentally shot himself in the thigh with the pistol and although the bullet penetrated deeply, doctors advised against its removal and it remained in his leg for the rest of his life. At the age of 12 he bought his first antique firearm — a percussion-cap pistol — for 3 shillings at an antique shop in Broadstairs, Kent. The pistol is still in the collection today.
Keith Neal spent his early career working for the distinguished Bath portrait photographer Herbert Lambert. During these years his collection grew steadily, limited only by his financial resources. His work as a photographer's apprentice also "gave him access to the great gun collections of the region's stately homes" and "often he came away with gifts of firearms from aristocrats moved by his enthusiasm for their gun cabinets." In 1930 he began reassembling the Packington Old Hall gun cabinet originally collected by Lord Guernsey. This unique collection of obsolete long arms, which had been preserved in deer grease, dated from 1725 to 1795, and become the nucleus of his "unrivalled" group of English sporting guns, and indeed his whole collection. He acquired the first piece — a flintlock sporting rifle, made by John Fox Twigg (1732-1792) — for £1.15s from gun dealer Frank Russell. By 1933, his collection was already being recognised as "one of the most complete collections of English weapons" in private hands.
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