NOTE: This is a summary of the Neale partnerships - for more detailed and referenced information see: mystaffordshirefigures.com 

James Neale  (born c.1740 died 1814)

• By 1760 James Neale was working in a London distributorship that handled the wares of Staffordshire potters. 

• In August 1762, Neale married his first wife, Hannah Heath, the daughter of an old Staffordshire family. 

• In 1766 James Neale had set up his own business and home in St Paul’s Churchyard, London.  There were a number of china and glass merchants and book traders already established in the area. 

• Hannah Neale’s older sister had married the pottery manufacturer Humphrey Palmer, so James Neale distributed ware for his brother-in-law, as well as other Staffordshire potters. 

Partnership with Palmer: 

• In 1778, Humphrey Palmer was in serious financial trouble. On 23 March 1778, he surrendered all his property, including his Church Works to his principal creditor - James Neale. 

• The pottery business continued as 'Neale & Palmer'. The day to day running of the Church Works was left in the hands of an able manager, Robert Wilson. 

Partnership with Wilson: 

• By at least 1783 Robert Wilson had joined the business as a partner. (documented as Neale & Wilson by an invoice dated 10 Nov 1783). 

• It appears that James Neale sold the Churchyard Works to Robert Wilson in 1789. Although a copartnership between the two continued until 1792. 

• In 1792 a notice was published to the effect that the copartnership between James Neale and Robert Wilson had expired on the 24 April 1792. The business would in future be conducted by Robert Wilson. (The London Gazette - 19 May 1792).

• Neale continued a relationship with Wilson until Wilson died in 1801. The executors of James Wilson's estate were James Neale (of Saint Paul's Church-Yard, London), the Reverend John Wilson and Mr David Wilson. (The London Gazette - 7 Feb 1801).

The London Emporium: 

• James Neale had operated his London based china, earthenware and glass emporium from 1766.  

• "The London emporium and the Church Works seem to have operated with different ownership structures, but at times the lines blurred. Essentially, Neale—along with assorted London partners who joined him in the 1780s — continued distributing the wares of the Church Works, just as he had in the days when Palmer operated it."

James Neale - personal life  (born c.1740 died 1814)

As well as being a successful merchant and pottery owner James along with his wife and family became influential Christian people: 

• In August 1762, Neale married his first wife, Hannah Heath, the daughter of an old Staffordshire family.

• James Neale later married his second wife, Elizabeth Simpson, and they has a number of children including a son, Cornelius (b.12 Aug 1789). 

• James & Elizabeth were devout Christians of an evangelical persuasion: 

"John Newton (the hymnist, Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist) was an intimate friend and constant visitor. During the period of the French Revolution they established prayer-meetings in their house [in S. Paul's Churchyard], and Mr. Neale became one of the earliest and most active supporters of the London Missionary Society." 

Ref: Towle E. A. (1906) John Mason Neale; a memoir; Longmans, Green & Co, London. p8 (Internet Archive) 

• James Neale died on 8th February 1814. 

• Cornelius Neale and his wife Susanna Mason Good had one son, John Mason Neale who was born in London on the 24th January 1818 and three daughters, one of whom was Elizabeth Neale. 

John Mason became an Anglican priest and hymnwriter and translator - amongst his most famous hymns is the 1853 Good King Wenceslas. 

Elizabeth founded an Anglican order of nuns.  

 

Gravesite Details: 

Flat stone in the vault of St Gregory's in St Paul's Cathedral yard. (Churchyard Inscriptions of the City of London - Rushen, 1910)

Inscription:

Rev. Samuel Neale, B.A., of Leicester, died 31 December, 1812, aged 25.
James Neale, his father, died 8 February, 1814, aged 74.
Benjamin, son of James Neale, born 9 January, 1786, died 6 August, 1816.
Elizabeth Neale, relict of James Neale, died 5 December, 1818, aged 75.

notice to "All persons who have any Demands upon the Estate of Mr. Robert Wilson, late of Hanley.."  

The executors were James Neale, the Reverend John Wilson and Mr David Wilson.