Major Lionel John Neville, Royal Engineers

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, P.E., MinstRE
(November 2023)

Figure 1. Major Lionel John Neville, R.E.
(Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum)

2. FAMILY INFORMATION AND EARLY LIFE

Lionel John Neville was born at 53 Chowringhi in Calcutta, India on 5 March 1878. He was the second son of James Sewell Neville (1827-1912) of Sloley Hall, Norwich. At the time of Lionel’s birth, his father was a Judge of the High Court in Calcutta. Lionel’s mother was Emelyn Anna Neville, née Stogdon (1842-1928).[1]

The Neville’s first son, Reginald James Neville Neville, later Sir Reginald, 1st Baronet Neville of Sloley, Norfolk (22 February 1863 – 28 April 1950), was born Reginald Neville White in Mazagaon, Bombay, India. He became a British barrister and Conservative and Unionist Member of Parliament. He was created a baronet on 2 July 1927.[2]

NOTE: The family name appears to have originally been White and was changed to Neville by Royal License in 1885. Family trees found on Ancestry.com show Lionel’s name as “Lionel John Neville White (later Neville)”, James’ name as “James Sewell White, post Neville”, and Reginald’s name as “Reginald James Neville White … Later Neville.” To add to the confusion, Lionel’s name is shown in The London Gazette of 21 September 1897 as “Lionel John Neville Neville”. For the purposes of this study the name Neville will be considered to be the family name.

Lionel first attended Cothill School in Abingdon, Berkshire and in 1891 he entered Charterhouse.[3] The Charterhouse Register of 1872 to 1910 shows him as a Junior and Senior Scholar winning prizes and senior scholarships. He left Charterhouse at the Christmas Quarter of 1895 and entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.

While Lionel was at the Royal Military Academy, his brother’s wife gave birth to a son. Lionel’s nephew, James Edmond Henderson Neville (1897-1982) was born in Pimlico, London. He would be commissioned in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and would serve in the Great War of 1914-1918. He was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in action. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the regiment and succeeded as the 2^nd Baronet Neville, of Sloley, County Norfolk on 28 April 1950.[4] See Annex A.

Gentleman Cadet Lionel John Neville graduated from the Royal Military Academy and was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 23 September 1897.[5] Following his commissioning he was posted to the School of Military Engineering (S.M.E.) at Chatham, Kent for further training as an engineer officer.

His military training at Chatham included courses in field fortifications, construction, surveying, telegraphy, electric lighting, submarine mining, photography, chemistry, military law and tactics. The Field Fortifications course lasted for 4 months and 23 days. This course consisted of field and siege engineering, field defence, attack of fortresses, mining construction, demolition of railways and water supply. The Construction course was 6 months and covered building materials, engineering construction, hydraulics, construction of barracks, drainage, manufacture of iron and steel, mining, quarrying and machinery. Next came the Surveying course consisting of five months of technical training in geodesy, astronomy, meteorology, trigonometrical chain and road surveys and use of surveying instruments. One to two months of military topography followed, which included military surveying and sketching and elementary reconnaissance. In the School of Telegraphy, Electric Lighting and Submarine Mining he studied the theory of electricity, use of telegraph instruments, bracing and connecting instruments, making of batteries, firing mines and testing tubes. All of this was accomplished in two months with an additional one month devoted to electric lighting, signalling by flag, lamps and heliograph. The School of Chemistry was a short course of varying length that generally covered practical chemistry, especially relating to limes, concrete and other building materials. Finally, the School of Military Law and Tactics, also a course of varying length, consisted of special lectures in law and tactics as dictated by current military situations. This training at the School of Military Engineering lasted for just under 24 months.

Following his completion of training at the S.M.E., 2^nd Lieutenant Neville was posted to Portsea for a short period, perhaps for additional training in submarine mining.[6] His stay there was a very short one, as he was posted for service in the South African war in the early part of 1900.

Neville was posted to the 5^th Field Company for service in South Africa. The company was serving with the 8^th Division and had been deployed to South Africa in March 1899. In May 1900 the division occupied the eastern part of the Orange Free State and took part in operations in Biddulphsberg and Wittebergen. The company also served in parts of the Transvaal.

In addition to 2^nd Lieutenant Neville, the following officers and senior non-commissioned officers were serving in the 5^th Field Company at the time:

Biddulphsberg was a 250-meter high hill located 13 kilometers east of Senekal and 30 kilometers northwest of Rosendal. The battle that took place on 29 May 1900, in which Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Rundle’s Column, composed of the 2^nd Grenadier Guards, 2^nd Scots Guards and some Imperial Yeomanry Companies, lost some 40 men killed and died of wounds as well as 130 wounded. The Boer force under General A. de Villiers, some 400 men from the Senekal, Ladybrand and other Eastern Free State Commando’s, were well-hidden and waiting for the British when Rundle’s Column advanced from the direction of Senekal before dawn on 29 May and over the next hours they inflicted heavy losses on Rundle’s men, with the losses compounded by the effect of the raging veld fire that swept over the British positions.[12] While Neville’s company was present with the 8^th Division, it was not engaged in the actual battle.

Neville and his company took part in operations inside a line drawn from Harrismith to Bethlehem, thence to Senekal and Clocolan in the Orange Free State along the Basutoland border, and back to Harrismith. A clasp for the Queen’s South Africa Medal was issued for all men who served in these operations.

Figure 2. Young 2^nd Lieutenant Neville in South Africa, c. 1900.
(Photograph courtesy of Brian Miller)

On 23 September 1900 Neville was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant while serving in South Africa. He and his company continued serving there until 1902. On 24 May 1902 Major Morony was invalided to England and on 11 September 1902 Lieutenant Neville was invalided home as well due to illness.

Lieutenant Neville was on sick leave during all of 1903 and 1904, indicating the seriousness of his illness.[13] No reference could be found during this research to indicate where he was during this period. It seems likely that he spent the time at his family home at Sloley Hall in Norwich while he recuperated.

In January 1905 Lieutenant Neville was posted to the 41^st (Fortress) Company in Ceylon. Only half of the company was there with the other half serving at Singapore. The company’s headquarters was at Colombo and the Commander Royal Engineers (C.R.E.) at Ceylon was Lieutenant Colonel F.D.F. MacCarthy, R.E. The other officers serving with Neville in the company were:

The role of the 41^st (Fortress) Company was to assist in the defence of ports and harbours that had significant military importance. This was accomplished by the use of mines and searchlights and by supporting the Royal Artillery garrison co-located with the fortress company. A Royal Engineers fortress company typically would provide the following services in defence of ports and harbours:

On 23 September 1906, while serving at Ceylon, Neville was promoted to the rank of Captain. He was subsequently transferred to the 31^st (Fortress) Company at Colombo as the company’s commanding officer under a new C.R.E., Lieutenant Colonel L. Jones. Captain Rooke also had been transferred to the 31^st Company and Neville had one other officer under his command, Lieutenant R.R. Hyslop, R.E. In January 1908 Captain Neville was ordered home.[16] Upon his arrival home he was posted to Chatham where he served in a Depot Company of the R.E. Depot Battalion.[17]

In July 1908 Captain Neville was posted to the Ordnance Survey in Carlisle, Cumbria, a position under Northern Command.[18] He had with him in his office one Captain A.J. Wolff, R.E.[19]

The Ordnance Survey began working on a series of maps at the half-inch to the mile scale (1:126,720) from 1902, with topographic content derived from the main nationwide revision of maps at the larger-scales from the 1890s. The initial driver behind the series was a military one, but it was recognized that the scale had a steadily growing public value. For this series, relief was shown by layer colours, but Ordnance Survey also produced a set of half-inch maps with relief shown by hachures. For some maps there were subsequent revisions of roads and railways which resulted in updated maps being produced. This then was the type of work that Captain Neville and Captain Wolff were engaged in while stationed in Carlisle.

In August 1908 Neville left Carlisle for Ordnance Survey duties at Redhill, Surrey in the Eastern Command. His office in Redhill was located at Rossmead on the London Road and his work was much like that described above for Carlisle.[20]

Neville married Lillian Agnes Fife Blewitt[21] at St. Jude’s Church in Kensington, London on 20 September 1910. Lillian was the daughter of Major General Charles Blewitt (1825-1907). Major-General Blewitt was involved in the New Zealand Wars during the 1860s as an officer with the 65^th Regiment in New Zealand.

In 1911 the couple were living in Merstham, Surrey while Captain Neville was still employed on Ordnance Survey duties at Redhill. On 16 January 1912 Neville’s father, James Sewell Neville, died in a nursing home at 55 Surrey Street in Norwich. The executors of his Will were his sons, Reginald James Neville Neville and Lionel John Neville Neville. It is curious that the Will shows the middle name of Neville for both sons. The value of James Neville’s estate was the enormous amount of just over £200,000 (over $32,000,000 US in 2023 currency)![22] Presumably this large amount of money was shared equally, although there is no information available to verify this. The eldest son, Reginald, may have inherited the greater share.

James Sewell Neville’s estate seems to be quite a lot of money for a man who was a Barrister and Judge all his life. Given the size and grandeur of Sloley Hall, it is obvious that this money was inherited.

Lionel and Lillian had two children during their marriage. Their daughter, Elizabeth Emelyn (1913-2009) was born on 14 June 1913 in Merstham. Their second child, Mary Elizabeth Blewitt Neville (1914-2004) was born on 15 March 1914 at 5 Medway Villas in Gillingham, Kent. By the time of Mary’s birth Captain Neville was serving at Chatham.[23]

In October 1914 Neville was promoted to the rank of Major.[24] On 4 November 1914 he went to France on the staff of the Director of Works. The Director of Works was responsible for a large number of activities in France, 25 in all, during the war. The ten major activities are listed below:

Major Neville, along with other R.E. officers, was posted to Boulogne on his arrival in France, where in conjunction with officers of the R.A.M.C., were responsible for organizing and constructing base hospitals. Neville was largely responsible for the organization, adaptation and equipment of the Maritime Hospital on the Quay, the Casino Hospital and other hospitals at Boulogne and Wimereux. At least this was his initial assignment, an assignment that did not last very long.

Figure 8. The Casino at Boulogne which was Converted to a Military Hospital.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

The 5^th Field Company of the Royal Engineers, Neville’s old unit from the Boer War, was with the 2^nd Division at Ypres in November 1914. The company had been in the middle of the heavy combat at Ypres at this time. Its O.C., Major Charles Napier North, was killed on 1 November 1914. He was replaced by Major Alfred Herbert Tyler, who was then killed on 11 November 1914. The company’s need for a commanding officer became critical and the newly promoted Major Neville, who had once served with this company, was chosen to replace Major Tyler.

Neville was not buried in France where he died. His grave is in the northwest part of Sloley (St. Bartholomew) churchyard. The repatriation of his body for burial following death overseas was highly unusual. Major Neville was buried at Sloley with military honours on 22^nd December 1914. At this early stage of the war, and due to his standing in life, he numbered among the lucky few who were returned to their homes for burial. How did this happen?

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was then and still is very specific about repatriation. It formed part of their ethos right from the start and their website today notes this:[26]

“The dead were to be buried where they fell – there would be no repatriation of remains – and rather than a cross, a standard headstone would be used to mark their graves. For those with no known grave, great memorials to the missing would be erected to ensure they would also be remembered. In all cases, no distinction would be made between those lost – as their sacrifice had been common, their commemoration would be common also.”

So the policy of non-repatriation of Commonwealth war casualties still applies and ensures that all those who died together are buried together, irrespective of how wealthy or influential their families were or when they were buried. What was the reason for this? Well, it was decided that for both hygienic and logistical reasons the dead would remain where they fell and be buried in the cemeteries where they either laid or were to be moved to. But Major Neville was moved and interred before all of this officially came into force in early 1915.

Major Neville left a wife, Agnes Lillian and two daughters and was 36 when he died. His grave is rare in the sense that very few families were able to repatriate their loved ones in the Great War. He was in a position of privilege in order that his body was moved from France to England for him to be buried in a family plot in Sloley. Very few got that wish unless they were sent back alive but died of wounds or illness in a hospital at home. Few soldiers would have been able to do that had they not had standing or the finances to do it. One wonders what the villagers of Sloley thought about Major Neville being repatriated, especially when ten men from that village died serving in the Great War, all of whom are buried close to where they fell.

At the time of his funeral his brother, Reginald J.N. Neville MP, presented a large silver cup to Brooke Hall (the Charterhouse staff common room) in his memory. His name appears on a panel in Sloley (St. Bartholomew) Church, Norfolk, and on the memorial cross.

Probate of Lionel John Neville’s Will took place in London on 27 May 1915. His effects went to Reginald James Neville Neville, M.P., his brother, barrister at law and baronet and Chairman of the Brentford Gas Company. The effects were in the amount of £84,266, 4 shillings and 5 pence (approximately $10,255,000 US in 2023 currency).[27]

Lionel John Neville served in the Royal Engineers from 23 September 1897 to 17 December 1914, a period of 17 years, 2 months and 22 days. He was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps [CAPE COLONY][TRANSVAAL][WITTEBERGEN] and the King’s South Africa Medal with clasps [SOUTH AFRICA 1901][SOUTH AFRICA 1902]. For his service during the Great War of 1914-1918 he was awarded the 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.[28]

The Wittebergen clasp was awarded to men who served inside a line drawn from Harrismith to Bethlehem, thence to Senekal and Clocolan in the Orange Free State along the Basutoland border, and back to Harrismith. The Cape Colony and Transvaal clasps were common to many medals issued to men who served in the Boer War as were the dated clasps on the King’s South Africa Medal.

The Medal Roll for the Queen’s South Africa Medal for the 5^th Field Company, Royal Engineers, was prepared in Harrismith in the Orange Free State, South Africa on 27 August 1903. The Medal Roll for the King’s South Africa Medal for the company was prepared at Middelburg in the Transvaal, South Africa on 23 March 1903. Neville’s name also appears on a medal roll for the KSA that was prepared by the War Office on 20 April 1903. Oddly, his name is the only one on the roll and no explanation could be found for this second roll.

Figures 12 and 13. The Queen’s and King’s South African Medals
(Images courtesy of Wikipedia)

Figure 14. The 14 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
(Image from the author’s collection)

NOTE: The medals shown in Figures 12, 13 and 14 are not those of Major Neville. The image is presented here for illustrative purposes only.[29]

Figure 15. The Great War Medal Index Card of Captain Lionel John Neville Neville.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

It is interesting to note that Neville’s name on his MIC includes the middle name Neville. He also is shown as a Captain on the card despite the fact that he was promoted to Major with a date of rank in October 1914, although his promotion was not published in the London Gazette until January 1915.

Mrs. Neville applied for her husband’s 1914 Star on 5 December 1917 while she was living at Pendean in Midhurst, Sussex.[30] His British War Medal and Victory Medal were issued to her on 18 May 1921.[31]

Lionel John Neville’s story is interesting and in some ways rather sad. It is the tale of a talented and very wealthy young man who chose to serve his country during two wars and who lost his life under the most unusual conditions.

Neville’s experience with the Royal Engineers was extensive and varied. He served in field companies, fortress companies, with the Ordnance Survey and with the Director of Works in both peace and war. When he died of his wounds in France he had over 17 years of service and would have been destined to a higher rank given his varied postings.

His service during the Great War shows how one’s destiny can be truly determined by time and place. When he arrived in France he was posted as a Director of Works staff officer to work on hospital construction. This posting would have kept him in the rear area, far behind the front line trenches. In less than a month he was posted to a field company in a division heavily engaged at the front. This company had lost two commanding officers in less than a month’s time and Neville was posted to replace the last one and to become a casualty himself during his first day with the unit. Thus ended his life, his career and his fortune leaving behind a wife and two young daughters. If he remained with the Director of Works he might have survived the war. If he not been promoted to Major, a rank that he never really got to hold, he might not have been posted as the O.C. of a field company at the front. If he never previously served with the 5^th Field Company in the South African War, he may never have been selected to command that particular company at Ypres. His destiny was determined by these three “ifs” and it cost him his life. This was not an uncommon occurrence during war time.

Sir James Neville: War and Peace, A Norfolk Soldier at Home and Abroad
A book by Sara Barton-Wood

Figure 17. The Cover of Sara Barton-Wood’s Book.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

James Neville was a man of his time. The son of a London barrister and later Conservative MP, their family home was Sloley Hall, near North Walsham. As a young man, he was educated like many of his class— first at prep school, then Eton and then onto Sandhurst to join the officer corps ready to fight when called for in the 1st World War. To begin with, he thought war was a great adventure; a few years on he was not so keen, but, as a commissioned officer, still believed in doing his duty. He was awarded the Military Cross in January 1918, surviving the war despite a serious injury. In 1919 he was sent, with other international troops, to support the uprising of 'White' Russians against the newly installed Bolshevik government as part of the North Russia Relief Force. Of the 30,000 men involved in Russia about half were British, and, according to Neville, were mostly 'unfit for battle'. Their primary job was to guard Allied stores and keep the Trans-Siberian Railway open. An ignominious withdrawal followed. Next it was unfinished business in Ireland, being sent to counter the Irish Republican Army in their war of independence. By 1923, Neville's career was progressing well having been promoted to Captain, but an affair with his commanding officer's wife ended his military vocation. Finding it difficult to establish a new role away from the British Army, he eventually took a job with the Sudan Plantations Syndicate as an Inspector on the Gezira Scheme—a vast irrigation project designed to grow cotton between the White and Blue Nile. Working in The Sudan sounded like another adventure, but Neville quickly found the country and the work tedious. He returned home after eighteen months, tired and sick with malaria. Constantly looking for love, he was attracted to women who were already married until eventually he found someone who would—and could—love him back. Throughout his life Neville recorded his innermost thoughts, anxieties and beliefs in diaries, letters home to his father, sisters and friends as well as taking photographs during his adventures.

As mentioned earlier in the text of this research, Sir James Neville was the son of Reginald James Neville and the cousin of Lionel John Neville.

Figure 18. The Great War Medal Index Card of James Edmund Henderson Neville.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

The Medal Index Card shows the J.E.H Neville served as a Lieutenant in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry during the war and that he had been awarded the Military Cross, the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service in France.

A Medal Index Card was located on Ancestry.com for 263015 Private Reginald J. Neville, 2/8^th Battalion, The Worcestershire Regiment. This battalion was formed at Worcester in September 1914 as a home service (“second line”) unit. In January 1915 it came under orders of the 2^nd Gloucester & Worcester Brigade, 2^nd South Midland Division, at Northampton. It moved to Chelmsford in April 1915 and on to Salisbury Plain in February 1916.

The battalion landed in France on 24 May 1916 and in August 1915 it became part of the 183^rd Brigade, 61^st (2^nd South Midland) Division. On 11 February 1918 the battalion transferred to the 182^nd Brigade of the 61^st Division.

Figure 19. The Great War Medal Index Card of 263015 Private Reginald J. Neville.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

Private Neville was killed in action on 12 September 1917. He is remembered with honour on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Panel 75 to 77.

NOTE: No evidence has been found to link this man to the family of Lionel John Neville, other than his given names and surname. He was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal which, according to his M.I.C., were issued, presumably to his family, on 4 January 1922.

INSTITUTION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS. The Work of the Royal Engineers in the European War, 1914-1919. Work Under the Director of Works (France). W. & J. Mackay & Co., Limited, Chatham, 1924.

[2] Reginald James Neville White was the elder son of James Sewell White, a barrister who became a Judge of the High Court of Calcutta in India and who took the name Neville by Royal License in 1885. While the family seat was at Sloley Hall, Sloley, Norfolk, Reginald was born in Bombay. He was educated at Clifton College, Charterhouse School where he was a Scholar, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the Winchester Reading Prize.

[3] He is listed in the Charterhouse Register of 1872-1910 as Neville, Lionel John Neville.

[7] Company Officer in Command. Later, Lieutenant Colonel.

[8] Company Second-in-Command. Later, Colonel, CB, CMG.

[9] Later Major. Killed in action in France on 14 November 1914. See www.reubique.com/Douglas.htm.

[11] No clasp on the Queen’s South Africa Medal for Biddulphsberg was issued to men who were present at this battle.

[17] Royal Engineers Lists, February to June 1908.

[21] In some references his wife’s name is given as Agnes Lillian.

[24] His promotion was not gazetted until January 1915, after his death.

[25] Moores is buried in the Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Grave reference D.1.2. He was the son of Lieutenant Samuel Moores of the Devonshire Regiment. He had been awarded the Pollock Medal at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in 1906 and the Haynes Medal in 1909. Moores had been mentioned in despatches prior to his death. He was 27 years old when he died.

[27] Pounds Sterling to Dollars: Historical Conversion of Currency.

[28] His Great War Medals were auctioned by Noonans, Lot No. 1143, on 27 June 2002, together with an attractive hand painted portrait miniature of recipient in uniform, painted on ivory, contained in its original fitted leather carrying case. The condition of the medals was listed as nearly extremely fine and the anticipated hammer price was £400 to £450. The medals and portrait actually sold for £1,300.

2. FAMILY INFORMATION AND EARLY LIFE

[22] Pounds Sterling to Dollars: Historical Conversion of Currency.