A junior branch of the magnate family, Neville’s ancestors regularly represented Yorkshire in medieval parliaments, acquiring Chevet, near Wakefield, by marriage under Henry VIII. Neville, whose family had strongly Catholic connections, was returned for Boroughbridge in 1628 on the interest of his second wife’s Catholic brother, who had recently inherited estates adjacent to the borough. His only mention in the records of the Parliament was a license to leave Westminster for three weeks on 19 Apr. 1628.8 Clay, ii. 154-9; J. Hunter, S. Yorks. ii. 392-5; CJ, i. 885b.
Re-elected to the Short Parliament in 1640, Neville gave evidence to the Privy Council about speeches in the Commons by Sir John Hotham* and Henry Belasyse*, which led to his arrest by the Long Parliament. During the First Civil War he allowed Sandal Castle to be garrisoned for the king, but he declined to raise a regiment himself. Having allegedly provided £1,450 of supplies for the parliamentarian armies, he paid only £1,000 to compound for his delinquency, a modest sum given his certified annual income of £1,408. Neville’s will, which was signed with a mark on 21 Mar. 1666, was proved on 11 October following. No subsequent member of the family sat in Parliament.9 CJ, ii. 78; Aston Diary ed. J.D. Maltby (Cam. Soc. ser. 4. xxxv), 142-3; P. Mayes and L.A.S. Butler, Sandal Castle Excavations, 9; Royalist Comp. Pprs. 3-5; Borthwick, Reg. Test. 48, f. 27.