John Neild

Who was John Neild?

John Cash Neild was an English-born Australian politician who served as a Senator from New South Wales from 1901 to 1910.

Neild's family arrived in Australia in 1860, and he worked as an insurance agent and company manager before winning election to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1885. He served intermittently until 1901 and had a tumultuous career as a backbencher, eventually contributing significantly to the fall of the Reid government in 1899. He also established his own volunteer regiment, which had a difficult and sometimes hostile relationship with military command.

Elected in 1901 to the Senate, Neild was a vigorous supporter of old-age pensions, free trade and several other causes, but his ambitions of promotion were never realised. Passionately loyal to the British Empire, he questioned aspects of the White Australia policy and spoke in support of the children of Kanaka labourers facing deportation. His continued disputes with the military, including an attempt to have the commander of the Australian military forces found in contempt of Parliament, saw him lose respect among his colleagues and his later career was spent in comparative isolation.