Edgar Neale
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Edgar Neale | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Edgar Neale in 1950 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Nelson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1946–1957 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Harry Atmore | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Stan Whitehead | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18th Mayor of Nelson, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1941–1947 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | George Page | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Joseph Auty Harley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 November 1889 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 25 July 1960 (aged 70) Nelson, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Profession | Accountant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cricket career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cricket information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1920/21 | Minor Associations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1921/22 | South Island | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First-class debut | 8 March 1921 Minor Associations v Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last First-class | 10 March 1922 South Island v North Island | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 27 March 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Edgar Rollo Neale OBE JP (24 November 1889 – 25 July 1960), often called Gar Neale, was Mayor and Member of Parliament for Nelson, New Zealand, a strong supporter of the Nelson railway, and a representative cricketer.
Education
Gar Neale's great grandfather and family migrated to New Zealand from Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, in the 1840s, settling in Auckland. In the 1850s, Neale's grandfather, John William Neale, moved to Nelson. Gar Neale's father, Henry Neale, was born in Nelson and worked as a carpenter. Henry married Kate Bethwaite.[1] Henry and Kate had two children; Gar (born in 1889 in Nelson) and Gladys (born in 1893).[2]
Neale was educated at Nelson Central School and Nelson College (1903–1905),[3] where he took a general academic course. He became a part-time master at the college (1920–1932),[4] teaching Commercial Practice.[2] He was Secretary of the Nelson College Old Boys Association (1921–1935), and its President (1938–1947). He also served on the Colleges Board of Governors.
During his stay in Blenheim (1915–1919), Neale completed his accountancy diplomas.
Career
Neale was first employed as a law clerk with Maginnity and Son (later Maginnity, Samuel and Hunter). About 1911 he transferred to Adams and Harley as an accounts clerk. From 1915 to 1919 he was employed by Griffiths Brothers Limited in Blenheim.
Returning to Nelson from Blenheim in 1920, he went into partnership with J E Milner as a public accountant, auditor, and secretary.[3] The firm later became E R Neale and Son, when his son joined him.
Family
Neale married Florence Myrtle Parsonage, the daughter of Henry Bruce Parsonage and Ellen Penn, on 26 December 1911.[5] They had four sons. In the 1951 New Year Honours, Florence Neale was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for public services in Nelson.[6]
His sister, Gladys Neale, married Howard Knight.
After Florence Neale died in 1954,[7] Neale married Rata Forbes in 1957.
Residences
Neale purchased 241 Bridge Street, Nelson in the late 1920s from the Tilyard family. The two-storey wooden home had been built in the early 1900s. The Neales named the home Green Gables[8] and lived there until about the time his first wife, Florence, died in 1954. In 1957 the house was sold to Presbyterian Support Services and became a rest home. Neale moved to a new home in Moana Avenue on the Port Hills overlooking Tahuna Beach where he resided until his death.
Sport
In 1902, he was reported as participating in the Nelson Athletic and Cycling Club Labour Weekend Central School 100-yard and 220-yard running races.[9] Although not placed he appears to have had an interest in sports from an early age.
He was a sportsman of reasonable skill playing representative cricket (1904–1945) for Nelson and Marlborough, hockey (1915–1926) for Marlborough, Nelson, and the South Island (1923), soccer (1905) for Nelson, and golf (1937) for Nelson. He loved horse racing and was Secretary of the Nelson Trotting Club from 1923 and the Nelson Jockey Club (1923–1949).
Cricket
Neale represented Nelson in cricket from 1904 while still at college aged 16 years. He first captained Nelson in 1910 when he was only 21 years old.[10] By 1926 he had played 52 matches for Nelson including playing for the Hawke Cup. He continued to represent Nelson until 1945, with a short break (1915–1920) playing representative cricket for Marlborough when he lived in Blenheim. During this period he was noted as "giving powerful help to Marlborough".[11]
He represented the South Island (1922) and the New Zealand Minor Associations (1921) in first-class cricket. By 1928 Neale had made over 1,000 runs for his club. His statistics for representative cricket were 73 innings, 3 not outs, 201 highest score, 2,223 total runs, and 31.7 run average.[12] He also achieved his highest score of 201 runs against Wellington during this period. By 1938, having played cricket for 33 seasons, he had scored 45 centuries and eight double centuries. Altogether he had registered 25,000 runs and taken over 1000 wickets. He continued playing until circa 1951.[13] Neale encouraged up and coming new players. An example of this was in 1948 when he, along with Jack Newman and Herb McGirr, after a Newman Shield match against Nelson, encouraged Arthur Cresswell to play for a major centre, leading him to become a foundation player for the Central Districts team.[14]
He was also noted for his memory of cricket history and statistics.[15]
