I had known Dr. Neill for over 20 years first as
a photographer, and later as a friend. In fact I was with him just a couple of
hours before he died during the late afternoon on Thursday September 26th.
1996.
Dr. Neill was a man of many talents, photography
being on of them (Although by his own admission he did not consider himself a
good photographer). He also had a wealth of stories of his experiences as a
P.O.W. in Germany. Born in Northern Ireland he moved to Hull where he met his
wife-to-be, also a doctor. His interest at Hull was infectious diseases, where
he became an expert in the culture of diphtheria bacteria.
After the war he returned to Northern Ireland
and became Medical Officer of Health for County Tyrone, eventually arriving in
Barnsley in 1954 where he took up the post of M.O.H. until his retirement in
1974.
I first met him at Barnsley Photographic Society
where his interest by this time was A.V.It was here he encouraged me to take
up the arty of AV using a projector. Later he invited me to aC.R.C. meeting at
Wetherby where it was decided to rename the branch the White Rose Colour Club,
we both became members and travelled together to the monthly meetings.
After his retirement Dr. Neill continued
building up his collection of slide sequences and became
A.R.P.S. as a result. His sequences were both 35mm and 2¼ square using
Kodak Carousel and Liesegang projectors.
Over the past 3 or 4 years getting around was
proving difficult, but being an extremely independent person, he insisted on
doing his own housework, gardening and shopping. It was at this Stage that he
reluctantly disposed of all his equipment and chemicals.
It was almost a year to the day after his move
from a very large house to a small bungalow that he passed away quietly - at
home.
John Batty (Area 11).
For a wider picture of Dr. Neill`s life the late
Ron Knowles wrote a dedication in CRCN No. 63 (1991) "A Man For All
Seasons". He graduated in 1931 at the Queen`s University in Belfast,
gaining an MB B ch. His service with the T. A. was in preventive medicine and
active service took him to Dunkirk, the Western Desert and Greece and saw a
period as P.O.W. in Germany. He eventually rose to the rank of Commanding
Officer and served as Honorary Surgeon to H. M. the Queen from 1961 to 1963.
My first meeting with Dr. Neill was at Wetherby
and, inspite of being in his 70`s, he travelled to the early Didcot meetings
presenting excellent A.V. programmes. He had a most pleasant, if quiet,
speaking voice and introduced his AV`s with interesting details and stories
and always wrote later to thank me for having him at our AGM`s, indeed it was
always my pleasure to have him attend and I should have been thanking him. It
was only due to respecting his age that, later, I never troubled him by making
him feel obliged to travel such a long way to Didcot. The C.R.C. became what
it was due to members such as Dr. Neill and we really are all the sadder for
his loss.
Bill Reid, CRC Editor.