With the death of Professor John Neale on 20 January 2006, our Society lost one of its staunchest supporters: President 1981–1982; author of several papers in our Proceedings and of chapters in two other YGS publications: The Geology and Mineral Resources of Yorkshire (1974) and Yorkshire Rocks and Landscape (1974, 1996, 2006); field meeting leader; and for more than 40 years one of the most regular attendees, with his wife, Patti, of our Annual Dinner in York. He received the Society's John Phillips medal in 1986 and was made an Honorary Member of our Society in 2000.
John was born in Burton-on-Trent in 1926, and educated mainly at the Charles I School, Kidderminster. After spending two terms at Manchester University, he volunteered for the Royal Navy in 1943 and was commissioned a year later. At the war's end he spent some time in HMS Onyx, minesweeping off Southern Ireland. Subsequently he studied Geology and Geography, with subsidiary Biology, at Manchester University, graduating in 1949 with First Class honours. He then joined the fledgling Sub-Department of Geology at Hull (in its second year) where he remained until it was closed as part of the 1988 Oxburgh review of Earth Sciences. For a long time the number of staff was tiny; John was initially one of …
