John Camden Neild

Who was John Camden Neild?

John Camden Neild was an English miser.

Neild, son of James Neild, prison reformer, was probably born in St. James's Street, London, about 1780. He was educated at Eton from 1793 to 1797, then at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1801, and being awarded his honorary M.A. three years later, as is standard at Cambridge. On 9 Feb. 1808 he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn.

Succeeding in 1814 to the whole of his father's property, estimated at £250,000, he developed into a confirmed miser, and the last thirty years of his life were solely employed in accumulating wealth. He lived in a large house, 5 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, but it was so meanly furnished that for some time he had not a bed to lie on. His dress consisted of a blue swallow-tailed coat with gilt buttons, brown trousers, short gaiters, and shoes which were patched and generally down at the heels. He never allowed his clothes to be brushed, because, he said, it destroyed the nap. He continually visited his numerous estates, walking whenever it was possible, never went to the expense of a great-coat, and always stayed with his tenants, sharing their coarse meals and lodging. While at North Marston, in Buckinghamshire, about 1828 he attempted to cut his throat, and his life was only saved by the prompt attention of his tenant's wife, Mrs. Neale. Unlike other eminent misers – Daniel Dancer or John Elwes – he occasionally indulged in acts of benevolence, possessed considerable knowledge of legal and general literature, and to the last retained a love for the classics.