Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan.

  • Bryan, George
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chelsea in the olden & present times / by George Bryan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    132/240 (page 120)
    JAMES NEILD, ESQ. Duke of Kent had a great regard for Mr. Butler, and appointed him one of his domestic chaplains. Hardly one charitable Society in London existed, to which his popular oratory did not essentially contribute credit and profit. He died in a good old age, and his remains were placed in the family vault at Chelsea. The Rev. Weeden Butler, his eldest son, occupied the same house for many years afterwards, as also the son of the latter, Thomas Butler, Esq., who was much esteemed by a numerous circle of friends while he resided in Cheyne Walk. The whole of this family were remarkable for their classical attainments and love of literature. The Rev. T. Helmore, Precentor, St. Mark’s College, has since resided in Mr. Butler’s house. < A very fine portrait of Dr. Dodd, painted by Gainsborough, and a large quarto volume of the doctor’s unedited poems, in MS., bound, including a tragedy, called “ The Syracusans,” and a comedy, called “ Sir Roger de Coverly,” were left by Mr. Butler, to his legatees. The portrait is the only likeness extant. The Rev. Philip Dodd, and the Rev. Weeden Butler (eldest son of Mr. Butler), possessed all the Doctor’s unprinted sermons. James Neild, Esq., who resided at No. 4, Cheyne Walk, was bom in 1744, at Knutsford, in Cheshire, in the neighbourhood of which his family had some good estates. He came to London, and was placed with Mr. Hemming, the King’s gold- smith, but after a short time, he removed to a jeweller’s. In 1770 he settled in St. James’s Street, and continued there till the year 1792, when finding his health declining, and having recently lost his wife, he retired from business to Chelsea, with an ample fortune. The attention of Mr. Neild, very early in life, was drawn to the distressed state of persons imprisoned for debt; the endeavour to alleviate which soon became his favorite pursuit, and one which he followed with intense application. In 1773, having previously visited most of the prisons in England, and many on the continent, he was, together with his benevt)lent friends. Dr. John C. Lettson, and the Rev. Weeden Butler, chiefly instrumental in instituting the Society for the Relief and Discharge of Persons imprisoned for small debts. In 1812 he published “The State of the Prisons,” in a quarto volume, a work teeming with valuable information. Mr. Neild died in 1814, and was buried in Battersea Church. He married a daughter of John Camden, Esq., of that parish.