(1741 - 1840); studied medicine at Edinburgh 1772 - 6; settled in Norwich 1783.
1778 - 80 [dep. Harwich 16 Oct. 1777] Rome (Jun. 1778 - 6 Sep. 1779), Naples (Sep. - Nov.), Rome (by 30 Nov. 1779 - Mar. 1780), Venice (Apr. - May) [Margate Aug./Sep.]
On qualifying as a doctor of medicine, Neville made the grand tour, setting out from Harwich with Dr John Gifford, a difficult companion, in October 1777.1 They spent time in Holland and France, before reaching Rome late in June 1778. They stayed there over a year; Orazio Orlandi, 'recommended as the first Antiquary in Rome', acted as their cicerone, but Neville became tired with a lack of company. Gifford died in Tivoli on 7 August 1779, and on 6 September Neville set out for Naples.
He found Sir William and Lady Hamilton 'very agreeable'; he visited Pompeii and Herculaneum, taking copious notes. On 30 November he returned to Rome, visiting Thomas Jenkins that day to see his antiquities. Jenkins was particularly helpful to Neville in the matter of Gifford's burial and estate. In February 1780 Neville met John Soane, 'a very ingenious young architect', taking him in his coach to see the Corso, and together they met Jacob More. Neville also called on Nathaniel Marchant, but he did not indulge in patronage. At the end of his tour he appears to have had only two small marbles from a temple at Herculaneum and some geological specimens, which Jenkins undertook to send back to England.
He left Rome early in March (his passport to Venice was dated 3 March 1780), travelling with a servant, Domenico Servi, who was dismissed in Venice as he had no German. Neville spent 'some months' in Venice, where he met the British resident, John Strange (with whom he was corresponding from Norwich in 1784). Neville was issued with a passport for travel through Germany dated Venice, 18 May 1780. He returned to Margate in late August/early September that year.
1. See Moore 1985, 155 - 7. Neville's diaries, letter bks. and accts. are in the Norfolk RO.