A correspondent writes:
THE Rt Revd John Neale died on 17 July, aged 93. He was Bishop of Ramsbury in Salisbury diocese from 1974 to 1988. He was the first Bishop of Ramsbury in the modern era, his immediate predecessor having retired in 1075. One Sunday after his consecration, John said in Ramsbury Parish Church that the last time a Bishop of Ramsbury was in this church had been nine hundred years before. A child was heard to ask, “Mummy, is he the same man?”
John grew up in comfortable circumstances, was educated at Felsted School, and served in the Royal Artillery in the latter part of the Second World War. His father wanted him to follow him into the family business of export shipping. He tried, but felt that the call to ordination had priority and must be followed. When his father asked what would happen to the business if John was ordained, John said, “The Lord will provide.” A buyer took the business at just the right time.
John was one of that generation of able young men who trained at King’s College, London, and St Boniface College, Warminster, under the formidable trio of Eric Abbott, Sydney Evans, and John Townroe. After a curacy at St Helier, in Southwark diocese (1955-58), he became Chaplain of Ardingly College (1958-62), Recruitment Secretary at CACTM and then ACCM (1963-68), and Canon Missioner, Director of Post-Ordination Training, and Rector of Hascombe in Guildford diocese (1968-74), where George Reindorp was bishop.
Reindorp was translated to Salisbury in 1973, and, the following year, John followed to become Bishop of Ramsbury as well as, for the first six years, Archdeacon of Wiltshire.
He was a much-loved bishop who, for his part, loved Wiltshire and the diocese of Salisbury. Bishop Reindorp’s notes about his area bishops, the other being the late John Kirkham, Bishop of Sherborne (Gazette, 8 November 2019): “Both are bachelors” — though Kirkham later married, and Neale was his best man. “Both are loved by the clergy and their families because of the caring concern they show . . . excellent administrators . . . prayerful and in demand as conductors of retreats.” John Neale was said to be an excellent chairman and shrewd financier.
In Guildford, he had been deeply involved with the diocesan link with West Africa. On a Sunday in Gambia, the bishop said to him, “The organist is ill. We have no music. You play.” So he did. He was an accomplished pianist. In Salisbury, he was passionate about the partnership with Sudan. His episcopal robes were given a few years ago to South Sudanese bishops.
When John Austin Baker became Bishop of Salisbury, the diocese was served by three bishops called John. John Neale worked happily with his new diocesan, but found in him a different energy and less warmth than he had experienced with Reindorp. When he left the diocese in 1988 to become Secretary of the Partnership for World Mission, there was a farewell service in the cathedral. John Baker commented that he must have been surprised so many came, especially clergy — to which John Neale replied, “It was very kind of them to come”. He was clearly not surprised.
His new job was based in London, and he needed to get out of the diocese he had served for 14 years. He believed in putting down roots and worshipping in the parish church. He bought a small house on the Isle of Dogs, in east London, where the present Bishop of Salisbury was then the Vicar, and the youth worker, now Archdeacon of Hereford, lodged with him for a year.
John had a long and active retirement living in Corsham, serving as an Assistant Bishop in Bath & Wells, Bristol, and Gloucester, as well as Salisbury. He was a knowlegeable gardener and active with Wiltshire Tree People, including the planting of a tree in the cathedral Close to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The Bishop was instructed to water it daily for the first few weeks. It is thriving.
John had a gift for friendship and 15 godchildren, including the Bishop of Sheffield, the Archdeacon of Blackburn, and the Revd Mike Lange-Smith who officiated at his funeral in Ramsbury Parish Church. When needed, particularly in later years, a number of people were willing to drive him. Until the last move to Shockerwick House, a nursing home near Bath, John enjoyed regular visits to Salisbury including to the annual lunch for retired bishops and deans.
In his last years, he was well cared for and maintained a disciplined pattern of prayer. He exercised a ministry within the home and was deeply puzzled that his failure to do safeguarding training meant that he could not have permission to officiate and hold a communion service there. It was a good decision, as by then John could have got into a muddle and, as he liked good order, that would not have pleased him.
On the Sunday before he died, the Bishop of Salisbury, wearing gloves, mask, and apron, was able to celebrate communion with him, hear his final confession, and give absolution. The Revd Mike Lange-Smith, his next of kin, was able to visit on four successive days, prayed with him, read the scriptures, and anointed him with oil that John kept. According to the manager of the home, John seemed to wait until his last visitor had left before he himself left the room. He died while Mike was returning to Jersey.
His funeral in Ramsbury was inevitably limited to 30 people. His ashes will be interred at a later date.