Sir Paul Neile FRS (1613 – February 1686) was an English astronomer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in 1640 and from 1673 to 1677. Neile was born at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

, the son of

Richard Neile Richard Neile (or Neale; 1562 – 31 October 1640) was an English churchman, bishop successively of six English dioceses, more than any other man, including the Archdiocese of York from 1631 until his death. He was involved in the last burnin ...

, later

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

. He was admitted at

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

on 20 May 1627 aged 14 and was awarded BA in 1631. He was one of the ushers of the Privy Chamber to King Charles I,C A Ronan and Sir Harold Hartley ''Sir Paul Neile'' Notes and Records of the Royal Society Vol 15, July 1960
/ref> and was knighted on 27 May 1633 when he was of Hutton Bonville York. In April 1640, Neile was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Af ...

. During the interregnum he was living at

White Waltham White Waltham is a village and civil parish, west of Maidenhead, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is crossed briefly by the M4 motorway, which along with the Great Western Main Line and all other roads c ...

, Berkshire where he studied astronomy and built telescopes.

Sir Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churche ...

was using Neile's telescope at White Waltham in 1655 and in 1658 Neile gave a 35-foot telescope to

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England. It does not enroll students or award degrees. It was founded in 1596 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts ove ...

. He was one of the twelve founder members of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

and in 1661 the Society "desired him to continue his employment of the artificer for making glasses for perspectives". In 1673 Neile was elected MP for Newark together with his business partner

Henry Savile Henry Savile may refer to: *Henry Savile (died 1558) (1498–1558), MP for Yorkshire *Henry Savile (died 1569) (1518–1569), MP for Yorkshire and Grantham * Henry Savile (Bible translator) (1549–1622), English scholar and Member of the Parliamen ...

. However his election was unpopular and contested and he was unable to take his seat properly in the next four years. The election was eventually declared void on 21 Mar 1677. Neile died at the age of 73. Neile married Elizabeth Clarke, daughter of Gabriel Clarke, D.D.,

Archdeacon of Durham The Archdeacon of Durham is a senior ecclesiastical officer of the diocese of Durham (Church of England). They have, within the geographical area the ''archdeaconry of Durham'', pastoral oversight of clergy and care of church buildings (among other ...

. Their son William Neile was a mathematician and astronomer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neile, Paul 1613 births 1686 deaths People from Ripon People from Westminster Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge 17th-century English astronomers Founder Fellows of the Royal Society English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1661–1679