Modern English biography

in Wellington sq. Ayr. _J. J. Higginbotham’s Men whom India has known_ (1874) 321–8; _J. W. Kaye’s Lives of Indian officers ii_ 353–416 (1867); _E. H. Nolan’s British empire in India ii_ 724 (1860) _portrait_; _R. M. Martin’s Indian empire ii_ 292 _et seq._ (1860) _view of his death_; _W. Forbes-Mitchell’s Reminiscenses of the great mutiny_ (1893) _appendix A_; _I.L.N. xxxi_ 577, 578 (1858) _portrait_. NOTE.--He wrote the history of his regiment under the title of Historical record of the Madras European regiment 1843. His widow Isabella Neill was raised 26 Nov. 1857 to the same rank as if her husband had survived to be created K.C.B., for which honour he was named in the London Gazette Nov. 1857, she was granted a pension of £500 a year by the East India Co. 1857 and _d._ 1875. His fourth son Andrew Harry Spencer Neill _b._ 30 Aug. 1844, ensign Madras infantry 20 Aug. 1861, commanded second regiment of Central India horse 5 Nov. 1880 to death, major Bengal staff corps 20 Aug. 1881 to death, was _shot dead_ on parade by an insane trooper of his regiment 14 March 1887 at Agar, Central India. NEILL, PATRICK. _b._ Edinburgh 25 Oct. 1776; head of the large printing firm of Neill and Co.; secretary of the Wernerian natural history society 1808; secretary of the Caledonian horticultural society 1809–49; laid out the West Princes st. gardens, Edinb. 1820; the rosaceous genus Neillia is called after him; F.L.S. 1813; F.R.S. Edinb.; LL.D. Edinb. univ.; author of A Tour through some of the islands of Orkney and Shetland 1806; An account of the basalts of Saxony, from the French of J. F. D’Aubuisson 1814; and of the article Gardening in the 7th ed. of the Encyclopædia Britannica, which was published under title of The fruit, flower, and kitchen garden 1840, 5 ed. 1854. _d._ Canonmills cottage, near Edinburgh 3 Sept. 1851. _Proc. of Linnæan Soc. ii_ 191–2 (1855); _Crombie’s Modern Athenians_ (1882) 115 _portrait_. NEILL, ROBERT (son of John Neill, captain). _b._ Irvine, Ayrshire 1822; ed. at Dr. Browne’s school, Greenock, and univ. of Edinb.; called to Scottish bar 1846; partner with his uncle James Dunlop 1846–9, when the latter died; practised by himself 1849–56, and with his brother Stewart Neill 1856 to death; provost of Greenock 1871–2; published Forms of proceedings in maritime causes before the sheriff court in Scotland 1878. _d._ Balgray, Greenock 18 March 1881. _Law Times lxx_ 430 (1881). NEILL, THOMAS, the assumed name of Thomas Neill Cream. _b._ Glasgow about 19 May 1850; taken to Quebec when a child; received a medical education at M’Gill college, Montreal 1872–6, when he took a degree; attended lectures at St. Thomas’s hospital, London; took two degrees at univ. of Edinb.; practised as physician in Ontario and at Chicago 1880–1 under his real name; arrived at Liverpool 1 Oct. 1891; lodged at 103 Lambeth palace road, London, until 6 Jany. 1892, and again in April 1892; poisoned by strychnine a woman called Matilda Clover at 27 Lambeth road, London 21 Oct. 1891; probably poisoned also Alice Marsh, Ellen Donworth, and Emma Shrivell; tried at central criminal court for murder of Matilda Clover 17–20 Oct. 1892, found guilty and sentenced to death 20 Oct. _hanged_ by Billington at Newgate prison, London 9 a.m. 15 Nov. 1892. _Central criminal court sessions paper, Minutes of evidence cxvi_ 1417–60 (1892); _Times 16 Nov. 1892 p._ 11; _Daily Graphic 18 Oct. 1892 p._ 1 _portrait_; _Spectator 29 Oct. 1892 p._ 590. NEILSON, JAMES BEAUMONT (younger son of Walter Neilson, engine-wright at the Govan coal works, near Glasgow). _b._ Shettleston, near Glasgow 22 June 1792; engine-wright of a colliery at Irvine 1814–7; foreman of the Glasgow gas works 1817, manager and engineer of the works 1822–47; invented the swallow-tail burner, which came into general use; invented the hot blast in the manufacture of iron, which is now in general use; patented the invention with his partners, Charles Macintosh and John Wilson 1 Oct. 1828; established the validity of the patent after a ten days’ trial 1843; this invention made available the black band ironstone, formerly useless; M.I.C.E. 1832; F.R.S. 15 Jany. 1846. _d._ Queenshill, near Kirkcudbright 18 Jany. 1865. _Maclehose’s Glasgow Men ii_ 245–8 (1886) _portrait_; _Min. of proc. of Instit. of C.E. xxx_ 451–3 (1870); _S. Smiles’s Industrial biography_ (1879) 149–61; _Chambers’s Biog. Dict. of eminent Scotsmen iii_ 215–6 (1870); _Report of the case Neilson_ v. _Harford in the court of exchequer_, _Edinb._ (1841); _Report of case of Neilson_ v. _Baird_ (1843). NEILSON, JOHN FINLAY. Parliamentary reporter for The Times nearly 40 years. _d._ 61 Bessborough st. London 27 July 1881 aged 72. NEILSON, LILIAN ADELAIDE, stage name of Elizabeth Ann Brown (dau. of Ann Brown, an actress, who became Mrs. Bland). _b._ 35 St. Peter’s sq. Leeds 3 March 1848; lived at Skipton 1848–50; worked as a mill hand at Guiseley; a nurse girl in the family of Mr. John Padgett at Hawkhill house, Guiseley 1859–61; a barmaid, under name of Lizzie Ann Bland, at a public house near the Haymarket, London; a ballet girl; befriended by admiral Henry Carr Glyn; first appeared on the stage at Margate 1865 as Juliet, under name of Lilian Adelaide Lizon, which she afterwards changed to Neilson; pupil of John Ryder the actor; first appeared in London at Royalty theatre 17 July 1865 as Juliet; the original Gabrielle de Savigny in Watts Phillip’s Huguenot Captain at Princess’s 2 July 1866; played Victorine in the drama Victorine at Adelphi 14 Nov. 1866, the original Nellie Armroyd in W. Phillips’s Lost in London at Adelphi 16 March 1867; played Rosalind at T.R. Edinburgh 25 Sept. 1868; played at Prince of Wales’s theatre, Birmingham in Millicent, an adaption of Miss Braddon’s Captain of the Vulture 2 Nov. 1868; the original Lilian in W. Marston’s Life for life at Lyceum 6 March 1869, Madame Vidal in Oxenford and Wigan’s A life chase 11 Oct. 1869, Mary Belton in Uncle Dick’s Darling 13 Dec. 1869, both at Gaiety; began a series of dramatic readings at St. James’s hall 26 May 1870; appeared as Amy Robsart in A. Halliday’s Kenilworth at Drury Lane 24 Sept. 1870, and as Rebecca in his Ivanhoe 23 Sept. 1871; played Juliet and Pauline at Queen’s Sept. 1872; at Booth’s theatre, New York acted Juliet 18 Nov. 1872, reappeared in America 1873, 1874, 1876, 1877, 1879, and 1880; the first Anne Boleyn in Tom Taylor’s Anne Boleyn at Haymarket 5 Feb. 1876, played there again in 1878; acted Isabel of Bavaria in The crimson cross at Adelphi 27 Feb. 1879; arrived in Paris from London, on her way to Trouville 11 Aug. 1880. _d._ at the Nouveau chalet du rond royal, Bois de Boulogne, Paris 15 Aug. 1880, body removed to the Morgue same day. _bur._ West Brompton cemetery, London 20 Aug. _L. C. Holloway’s Adelaide Neilson_, _New York_ (1885) 8 _portraits and view of tomb_; _M. A. de Leine’s L. A. Neilson, a memorial sketch_ (1881) _portrait_; _W. Smith’s Old Yorkshire_ (1890) 94–8, 2 _portraits_; _C. E. Pascoe’s Dramatic List_ (1880) 271–5; _W. Marston’s Our recent actors ii_ 219–50 (1888); _W. Winter’s Shadows of the stage_ (1892) 47–62, _Second series_ (1892) _pp._ 268–76; _The Theatre ii_ 155 (1879) _portrait_, ii 122, 183–4, 247–9, 253, 255, 271–3 (1880) _portrait_; _Illust. sp. and dr. news i_ 289, 294 (1874) _portrait_, _viii_ 569, 575 (1878) _portrait_, _and 21 Aug. 1880 p._ 558, _portrait_; _Saturday programme 23 Sept. 1876_ _portrait_, _14 Oct. pp._ 6–7, _and 29 Nov. p._ 4; _Touchstone 27 April 1878 pp._ 3–4 _portrait_; _Lippincott’s Mag. xxx_ 623; _Era Almanac_ (1893) 17 _portrait_. NOTE.--She was _m._ on 30 Nov. 1864 at St. Mary, Newington, Surrey, as “Lilian Adelaide Lizon, dau. of Pera Lizon, gentleman,” to Philip Henry Lee, son of P. H. Lee, rector of Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire. This marriage was annulled, at her instance, by the supreme court in New York 1877, husband and wife having been previously naturalised as citizens of U.S. America. P. H. Lee _m._ (2) 21 Oct. 1880 Charlotte Ann Rowe, dau. of Samuel Lillicrap Trevanion Penrose, R.N. and widow of Charles Loftus Thorpe of Sonning, Berkshire. Miss Neilson who had been unwell from 1876 ruptured a varicose vein in the left fallopian tube, and died from internal hæmorrhage. _The Lancet ii_ 348, 484 (1880). Her will, dated 25 Sept. 1879, received probate 30 Aug. 1880, being sworn under £25,000, exclusive of the Chicago property, George Henry Lewis sole executor. She left £3,000 to be invested for her mother Ann Bland, half of it at A. Bland’s death to go to her three sisters, the other half to Thomas Brown. To Joseph Knight, theatrical critic £1,000. To Edward Compton, actor £1,000, and the residue to her old and steadfast friend vice admiral Henry Carr Glynn, who _d._ 16 Feb. 1884. This money has been used as a fund for the relief of actors in distress. NEILSON, PETER (youngest son of George Neilson, calenderer). _b._ Glasgow 24 Sept. 1795; ed. at Glasgow high sch. and univ.; with his father an exporter of cambric and cotton goods to America; was in America on business 1822–8; settled at Kirkintilloch, Dumbartonshire 1841; proposed improvements in the life buoy 1846; suggested iron-plated ships to lord John Russell 8 Jany. 1848, the Warrior and Black Prince were built according to his plan; author of Recollections of six years residence in the United States of America, Glasgow 1830; The millenium, a poem 1834; The life and adventures of Zamba, an African king, corrected by P. Neilson 1847; Remarks on ironbuilt ships of war and iron-plated ships of war 1861. _d._ Kirkintilloch 3 May 1861. _interred_ in burying-ground of Glasgow cathedral. _Poems of Peter Neilson_, _edited with memoir by Dr. Whitelaw_ (1870). NEILSON, WALTER (son of John Neilson). _b._ Glasgow March 1807; partner in his father’s millwright and engineering business, Oakbank foundry, Glasgow 1828; built the Fairy Queen, one of the earliest iron ships, which had also the first oscillating marine engines 1831; partner in Wilson’s and co.’s blast furnace iron works, Summerlee, Coatbridge 1836, works became the Summerlee iron co. 1870; adapted the Addenbrook system of collecting the combustible gas and using it in heating the air of the blast, and in getting up steam; owner of coal and ironstone mines; produced sulphate of ammonia from the gasses emitted from the blast furnaces; senior partner in Mossend iron and steel co. on death of his brother, William Neilson; A.I.C.E. 5 May 1868. _d._ 18 Aug. 1884. _Min. of proc. of Instit. of C.E. lxxx_ 347–9 (1885). NEILSON, WALTER MONTGOMERY (son of James Beaumont Neilson 1792–1865). _b._ Glasgow 1819; partner with Mr. Kerr in the Hyde Park locomotive works, Glasgow, for making land and marine engines; commenced making locomotives 1842; supplied 1,200 locomotives to India 1857 etc.; succeeded to Queenshill estate, Kirkcudbrightshire 1865; colonel of 6 Lanarkshire volunteer corps 9 Sept. 1874 to 2 July 1887; grand master of freemasons Glasgow province; owner of Monte Picini estate, near Florence, where he cultivated vines; M.I.C.E. 3 April 1860. _d._ Queenshill 8 July 1889. _Min. of proc. of Instit. of C.E. c_ 400–1 (1890). NEISH, THOMAS. _b._ 1789; insurance broker in the Cowgate, Dundee 1807; partner with David Smart to 1826, when they failed; a dealer in flax and other Russian produce to his death; one of the first in Dundee to import jute, which he sold for upwards of 30 years after its introduction; vice consul for Russia in Dundee many years; became tacks-man of the shore dues in 1817 at a rental of £5605; took a prominent part in proceedings of the Dundee chamber of commerce. _d._ 25 April 1864. _W. Norrie’s Dundee celebrities_ (1873) 235–6. NELIGAN, JOHN MOORE (son of a physician). _b._ Clonmel, co. Tipperary June 1815; M.D. Edinb. 1836; M.D. Dublin 1853; M.R.C.P. 1846, F.R.C.P. 1853; practised at Clonmel, moved to Cork; physician in Dublin 1840 to death; physician to Jervis st. hospital 1841; lectured on materia medica 1841–6, and on medicine 1846–7 in the school, Peter st. Dublin; edited the Dublin quarterly journal of medical science 1849–61; author of Medicines, their uses and mode of administration 1844, 7 ed. 1867; The diagnosis and treatment of eruptive diseases of the scalp 1848; A practical treatise on diseases of the skin 1852, 2 ed. 1866; Atlas of cutaneous diseases 1855; edited R. J. Graves’s Clinical lectures on the practice of medicine, 2 ed. 1848, 4 ed. 1884. _d._ Clonmel house, near Blackrock, Dublin 24 July 1863. _C. A. Cameron’s History of college of surgeons in Ireland_ (1886) 528, 593, 637, 692; _Dublin quarterly journal of medical science Aug. 1863 pp._ 255–8. NELSON, SIR ALEXANDER ABERCROMBY. _b._ Walmer, Kent 30 June 1814; ensign 40 foot 6 March 1835, captain 31 July 1846 to 31 Dec. 1847; served at Kandahar and in Afghanistan 1841–2, and at battle of Haidarabad 24 March 1843; D.A.A.G. at Portsmouth 1855–6; brigade major at Portsmouth 1856–7; D.A.G. in Jamaica 9 Dec. 1864 to 27 Oct. 1866, with lieut. Herbert Brand tried George William Gordon by court martial in Jamaica for high treason and caused him to be hanged 23 Oct. 1865, Nelson and Brand were tried for murder at central criminal court London 10 April 1867 and acquitted, but lord chief justice Cockburn made strong remarks as to the evidence on which Gordon had been sentenced to death; A.A.G. Cork district 1867; A.A.G. Gibraltar 1873–6; lieut. col. in the army 9 Dec. 1864, placed on h.p. 9 June 1877; lieutenant governor of Guernsey 1 May 1879–83; M.G. 29 April 1880; placed on retired list with hon. rank of L.G. 10 Oct. 1883; C.B. 29 May 1875, K.C.B. 30 May 1891. _d._ Walmer, Bath road, Reading 28 Sept. 1893. _Charge of lord chief justice Cockburn in the case of The queen against Nelson and Brand_ (1867); _Irving’s Annals_ (1876) 764, 766, 771. NELSON, ALFRED (son of Mr. Nelson, actor). _b._ about 1830; first appeared at theatre royal, Bristol, under Mrs. Macready’s management; appeared as Horatio in Hamlet, Haymarket theatre, London 29 July 1865; with his father and other relatives arranged a musical and dramatic entertainment, with which they travelled in Australia, America, and Canada; played at Liverpool; played Jack Scroggins in Burnand’s Morden Grange at Queen’s theatre 4 Dec. 1869; acted in Tom Taylor’s Twixt Axe and Crown at Queen’s 22 Jany. 1870 for 9 months, and in My wife’s dentist 300 nights; played Andrew Duvernay in Sir Charles Young’s Montcalm 28 Sept. 1872 at Queen’s theatre; played Duke of Norfolk in W. S. Raleigh’s Queen and cardinal at Haymarket 26 Oct. 1881, the Duke in A Midsummer night’s dream at Drury Lane 13 March 1883, and Mr. Gibson in The ticket of leave man at Her Majesty’s 14 April 1884; teacher of elocution at Guildhall school of music, London 1880 to death; organised successful Students’ recitals. _d._ 40 Lordship lane, Tottenham 5 March