Hull Geological Society
Obituary
John Neale remembered.
Professor John Neale died on Friday 20th January 2006, aged 79. John
worked as a lecturer at Hull University, specialising in the Speeton Clay and
ostracods. Twelve species of ostracods have been named in his honour.
John was born in Burton-on-Trent on 19th November 1926.He went to King
Charles 1st School in Kidderminster, and graduated from Manchester University
with First Class Honours in 1949. He originally intended to read civil
engineering, but opted for a degree in Geography and Anthropology. His studies
had been interrupted by service in the navy on minesweepers from 1943.
In October 1949 he joined the one year old Sub-Department of Geology at
the University College Hull, teaching University of London external degrees, as
an Assistant Lecturer in Mineralogy and Petrology. The sub-department was housed
in wooden former army huts on the campus. When the University of Hull received
its charter in 1954 Geology became a proper Department.
He joined the Yorkshire Geological Society in 1949 and was a Council
member from 1956 to 1958.
John Neale gave his first lecture to the Hull Geological Society in 1950
on the subject of the "Permo-Carboniferous Ice Age"; this was to be the start of
a long and close association with the Society. In 1954 the Society received a
lecture from John Neale, about the Market Weighton 'Structure'.
Some of the University lecturers were
particularly interested in local geology, and produced guides to the area.
George De Boer, John Neale and Lewis Penny published one in the
Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological
Society in 1958 and Neale and Penny, in collaboration with W S Bisat, for
the Geologists' Association Centenary Series in 1962. John (in Neale 1989)
explains that their interest was largely due to the need to travel by bus or
bicycle - the limiting factor in their choice of research topics!
In 1960 John Neale gave the first series of night classes for the
University Adult education Department. He did not continue with these, but Brian
Waugh and Mark Piasecki took them on and they continued for many years.
He submitted his thesis for his Ph.D. in 1961 on "
Berriasian-Hauterivian Ostracoda from the Speeton Clay with notes on the
Ammonoidea from D6 and D7 and the Palaeontology of the D beds".
He joined the Hull Geological Society in 1965.
He was a Committee member in the late 1960s. In 1966 the Society agreed to
produce a new publication, jointly with the Field Studies Association and the
Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club. A joint committee was formed to
edit and produce the new journal. ... Number One of the new publication
East Yorkshire Field Studies was published in 1968 priced 4/6 [22p].
Field Studies contained an equal mix
of articles from its three constituent Societies. This first issue contained an
article about the Jurassic of the South Cave area written by Patrick Boylan and
Felix Whitham illustrated with some fine line drawings of fossils produced by
John Neale. ... In 1970 ... Mark Piasecki became the editor for number 4, as
John Neale was going to South America for a year. In 1977 John Neale and Lewis
Penny were elected as Honorary Life Members of the Hull Geological Society.
In 1967 John organised an international
symposium on "The Taxonomy, Morphology and Ecology of Recent Ostracoda" at the
University of Hull, on 10th to 14th July. Patti Neale organised a full programme
of outings for the delegate's partners. John edited the proceedings which were
published in 1969 by Oliver and Boyd.
Patti remembers that symposium with
great affection and ranks it as one of John's greatest achievements.
He joined the British Micropalaeontology Group
(now The Micropalaeontological Society) in 1970 when it was founded and was the
Secretary of the Ostracod section from 1970 to 1972. He was elected to Honorary
Life Membership in 1999.
He became a fellow of the Linaean Society of London in 1976.
When I was at University 1973-76, I remember John teaching stratigraphy,
palaeontology and micropalaeontology. His first lecture about ostracods started
with 7 volunteers standing in a row waving their arms around to demonstrate how
an ostracod's limbs have specialised tasks. Later I think this was put to the
music of the "Birdie Song" to become the "Ostracod Dance".
In 1974 ... The Yorkshire Geological Society
published a book entitled The Geology and
mineral Resources of Yorkshire, which included chapters written by John
Neale, Lewis Penny and George de Boer.
In 1976 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science by Manchester
University for his publications and graduated on 9th July at the same ceremony
as his daughter who was receiving her Bachelors degree in Zoology.
In 1979 John was promoted to Professor of Micropalaeontology and gave
his inaugural lecture on "The Ostracoda: religion, sex and mystery!" on 6 May
1980. In 1983 the Department started to offer a Masters Degree in
Micropalaeontology. John was Head of Department in the mid 1980s. He also was
Sub-Dean of the Faculty of Science
In 1980 he was co-editor of a book
The Quaternary in Britain in honour of
the retirement of Dr Lewis Penny. He also organised a dinner for staff, students
and alumni to mark the event and from then on continued to maintain a list of
alumni and act as the unofficial historian of the Department, publishing an
alumni newsletter called "Harkerama".
He organised a reunion dinner when the
Department closed. Helen Dunham, the wife of geology Professor Ancel Dunham ,
became the Alumni Officer for the University of Hull and produced a similar
alumni newsletter called "where are they now".
John was the President of the Yorkshire Geological Society from 1980 to
1982 and gave his Presidential Addresses on "The Ostracoda and Uniformitarianism
" and then continued as Vice President until 1984. In 1986 ... Professor John
Neale was awarded the John Phillips Medal of the Y.G.S.
The Centenary Meeting [of the Hull Geological Society] on June 2nd. 1988
was a great success. There were displays by members notably Felix Whitham and a
video of a recent field meeting. There were lectures from members and Honorary
Members of the Society on local geology. This was followed by a Centenary Dinner
at Willerby Manor, with a speech by Professor John Neale given from memory
rather than notes, who recreated the atmosphere of 1888 by singing extracts from
Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
When the Geology Department closed in 1991, he gave his last lecture to
the undergraduates in full academic dress and brought along some bottles of
champagne to share. He had hoped to keep an office in the Geography Department
to continue his research, but that was not possible so he set up an office in
his attic at home. Visiting ostracod researchers continued to visit him from
overseas.
By the time he retired John had been the author or co-author of 111
scientific papers or chapters in books (Lord & Horne 2006) mostly about living
or fossil Ostracods dating back to the Late Jurassic. He had also been a
visiting professor at Universities in Brazil, Canada, Japan and the USA (?Wilson
1987). On these trips he amassed a considerable collection modern gastropod and
bivalve shells, which Patti Neale has donated to the Natural History Museum,
along with his microfossil colection.
He lived with his family in Strathmore Avenue, in the mid 1960s they
moved into Etherington House on Beverley Road, originally a farm house built in
1720 that has an acre of grounds, which would have originally been outside the
city of Hull boundaries.
John was a great fan of Gilbert and Sullivan
operas and sang with the Dagger Lane Operatic Society in Hull.
I remember a few years cycling past a gentleman with a
bright ginger beard and hair who shouted out and waved at me like a long lost
friend;
I wondered who it was for ages and then realised that
it was John who had dyed his hair for a production he was in!
John donated most of his collection to the Natural History Museum in
London when the Geology Department closed. In March 2006, Mrs. Patti Neale
donated some of John's geology books to the Society's Library and some remaining
specimens to the Treasure House in Beverley.
Neale J W,
selected bibliography - papers related to East Yorkshire or significant other
publications.
Neale J W 1956.
Chlamys (Radulopecten) drewtonensis
sp. nov. Proceedings of the Yorkshire
Geological Society 30, 371-374.
- 1959.
Norriianicythere Gen. Nov. (Pleistocene and Recent) and the division of the
Ostracod family Trachyleberididae.
Palaeontology 2, 72-93, pl 13-14.
- 1960. Marine Lower Cretaceous Ostracoda from
Yorkshire, England. Micropalaeontology
6, 203-224, pl. 1-4.
- 1960. The Subdivisons of the Upper D Beds of
the Speeton Clay of Speeton, East Yorkshire.
Geological Magazine 97, 353-362.
- 1961. Berriasian-Hauterivian Ostracoda from the Speeton Clay with
notes on the Ammonoidea from D6 and D7 and the Palaeontology of the D beds.
Unpub. Ph. D. thesis, Hull University. 494 pp.
- 1962. Ammonoidea from the Lower D Beds
(Berriasian) of the Speeton Clay.
Palaeontology 5, 272-296, pl. 40-45.
- 1962. Ostracoda from the type Speeton Clay
(Lower Cretaceous) of Yorkshire.
Micropalaeontology 8, 425-484, 13 pl.
- & Sarjeant W A S 1962. Microplankton from
the Speeton Clay of Yorkshire. Geol. Mag.
99, 439-458.
- & Kilenyi T I 1963. New species of
Mandelstamia (Ostracoda) from the English Mesozoic.
Palaeontology 3, 439-449, pl. 71.
1967. Life on the campus.
Journal of the Harker Geological Society
4, no 1, 1-6. [visit to Kansas]
- 1968. Biofacies and Lithofacies of the
Speeton Clay D Beds, E. Yorks. Proceedings
of the Yorkshire Geological Society 36, 305-335, pl 9-10.
- 1969 (ed.).
The Taxonomy, Morphology and Ecology of
Recent Ostracoda. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh. 553pp.
- 1970. Microfaunas and some aspects of the
Speeton Clay environment. Bull. Centre
Rech, Pau 5 suppl., 663-681.
- 1973. Ostracoda as a means of correlation in
the Boreal Lower Cretaceous with special reference to the British marine
Ostracoda. p 169-184 of Casey and Rawson (eds.)
The Boreal Lower Cretaceous. Geol. J.
Special Issue 5, Seal House Press, Liverpool, 448pp.
- 1974. Cretaceous. Chap. 8, p 225-243 of Rayner & Hemingway (eds.).
- 1977. Cretaceous Ostracoda of the North
Atlantic Basin. p 245-270 of Swain F W (ed.)
Stratigraphic Micropalaeontology of the
Atlantic Basin and Borderland. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co.,
Amsterdam. 603pp.
- 1978. On
Apatocythere spinosa Neale.
Stereo-Atlas of Ostracod Shells 5,
101-104.
- 1978. On
Schuleridea juddi Neale.
Stereo-Atlas of Ostracod Shells 5,
109-112.
- 1978. On
Schuleridea lamplughi Neale.
Stereo-Atlas of Ostracod Shells 5,
105-108.
- 1978. On
Schuleridea praethoerensis Bartenstein
& Brand. Stereo-Atlas of Ostracod Shells
5, 113-116.
- 1978. The Cretaceous. p 325-382 of Bate R H
& Robinson E (eds) A Stratigraphical index
of British Ostracoda. Seal House Press, Liverpool. 538 pp.
- 1979. On
Schuleridea hammi (Triebel).
Stereo-Atlas of Ostracod Shells 6,
1-4.
- 1980. On
Faranotacythere speetonensis (Neale).
Stereo-Atlas of Ostracod Shells 7,
33-36.
- 1980. On
Schuleridea bilobata (Triebel).
Stereo-Atlas of Ostracod Shells 7,
25-28.
- 1980. On
Schuieridea rhombcidalis Neale.
Stereo-Atlas of Ostracod. Shells 7,
29-32.
- & Brasier M D 1981.
Microfossils from recent and fossil shelf
seas. 380pp. Ellis Horwood, Chichester/Halsted Press, New York.
- & Flenley J 1981. Preface [to
The Quaternary in Britain, in honour
of L F Penny on his retirement]. p. v of Neale & Flenley.
- & Flenley J (eds) 1981.
The Quaternary in Britain. Pergamon
Press. 267pp.
-
1981 The Ostracoda : religion, sex and mystery!
[an inaugural lecture delivered in the
University of Hull on 6 May, 1980].
University of Hull, 12pp.
- 1982. Aspects of the Subfamily Schulerideinae. Chap.
11, p 178- 192 of Bate R H, Robinson E & Sheppard L M (eds.)
Fossil and Recent Ostracods. Ellis
Horwood, Chichester. 493 pp.
- 1982 - The Ostracoda and Uniformitarianism I
The later record: Recent, Pleistocene and Tertiary.
Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological
Society 44 305-326 [read 28 November 1981 at York]
- 1983. The Ostracoda and Uniformitarianism II. The
earlier record: Cretaceous to Cambrian.
Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 44 443-478. [read - 11
December 1982 at York]
- 1987. Speeton. p 12-19 of
'Association of Teachers of Geology 1987
Field Excursions' 36pp.
- 1988. Introduction to the geology of the
Hull Area. Teaching Geology 13, 40-44.
- 1988. Speeton Bay.
Teaching Geology 13, 52-54.
- 1989. A Stratigraphy of the Department [of
Geology, University of Hull]. Harker
Journal 1989, 1-5.
- 1990. A Stratigraphy of the Department [of
Geology, University of Hull] Part II
Journal of the Harker Geological Society. 14, No. 1, 3-8.
- 2000. Lewis Frederick Penny 1920-2000.
Humberside Geologist 13, 4-6
-
2001. Lewis Frederick Penny 1920-2000. The
Geological Society Annual Report 2000 41-2
- 2002. Obituary. Michael Robert House
(1930-2002). Proceedings of the Yorkshire
Geological Society, 54, 127.
De Boer G, Neale J W & Penny L F 1958. A guide
to the Geology of the area between Market Weighton and the Humber.
Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 31, 157-209.
?????
Kent P , Neale J W & Penny
L F 1958. A guide to the Geology of the area between Market Weighton and the
Humber. Proceedings of the Yorkshire
Geological Society 31, 157-209.
Bisat W S, Penny LF & Neale J W 1962.
Geology around the University towns Hull. Geologists' Association
guides No. 11.
Kent P- , - , Neale J W & Wilson V 1967.
[Report of a field meeting to] Market Weighton and the Howardian and South
Hambleton Hills (1966). Proceedings of the
Yorkshire Geological Society 36, 29-33.
???? Rawson P F, - , Curry D,
Dilly F C, Hancock J M, Kennedy W J, Neale J W, Wood. C J & Worssam B C 1978.
A correlation of Cretaceous rocks in the British Isles. Spec. Rept.
No. 9, Geol. Soc. London. 70pp.
Neale J W & J Catt
1994. Jurassic, Cretaceous and Quaternary rocks of Filey Bay and Speeton.
excursion 20 p 183-191 of Scrutton C (ed.)
Yorkshire Rocks and Landscape. The Yorkshire Geological
Society, 224 pp. Ellerbank Press, Maryport,
Cumbria
Sources -
Anon 2006. Obituaries- John Neale.
The Times March 6th 2006.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0..60-2078229.00.html
Horne M - 1989. The History of the Hull
Geological Society. Humberside Geologist
7, 40pp.
- 1992. A Bibliography of East Yorkshire
Geology 1938 to 1988.
Humberside Geologist 9, 46 pp.
- 2006.
A Bibliography of East Yorkshire geology 1989 to ....
<http://www.horne28.freeserve.co.uk/eybib88.htm> [updated 15th September 2006]
- 2006. Obituaries.
Humberside Geologist 14 (in press)
Jones, H.
2006. Devoted to his studies [obituary for J W Neale].
Hull Daily Mail
Wednesday 25th January 2006, page 12.
Lord A & D J Horne 2006. Ostracods ancient and
modern. A review of John Neale's scientific contribution. [abstract]
Yorkshire Geological Society Circular 533, 3.
( Wilson A A ?) 1987. Medal Presentation [to
Prof. J W Neale]. Proceedings of the
Yorkshire Geological Society 46, 291.
Acknowledgements -
I thank the following people for providing
additional information - Patti Neale, Phil Robinson, Jean Jones.
Appendix-
"Thank
you for your e-mail. I have checked our records and note that Professor John W
Neale graduated at Manchester University - BSc(Hons) Geography & Geology 1949
and DSc 1976 - it would appear this was not an honorary degree. His daughter
Elizabeth Franklin (nee Neale) graduated - BSc (Hons) Zoology 1976. They both
graduated at the ceremony on Friday, 9th July 1976. I hope this is of help."
Jean Jones,
Assistant
Alumni Officer, The University of Manchester. 28th September 2006.
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