Welcome to the Neve family genealogy page. Are you a Neve, Neave, Neves, Neeve or Le Neve? This page is for you. Do you know a Neve? Please tell them about this site. It will grow as much as those that use it participate in its development !

Our goal is quite simply to link up every Neve in the world.

You read right. But why not? The family is not as big as you might think! For those of you who are newcomers to the family and don't know our many and varied roots, I will try to give you an overview. I would appreciate hearing from you if you have any comments, additions or corrections. My address is at the bottom of this page.

For those of you who have asked for "The Poem", here it is; just click here : The Neve Family Poem. If you want to get right down to business tracking lost uncles and seeing where you fit it, click here and go straight to the details : Genealogy Page. In the following narrative, clicking on certain persons will take you to their place in our descendency listing. OK, let's go !

The PEDIGREE of the NEVE family

"THE NEVE family came from France about the period of the Conquest. Tradition gives the first of the name in England as Sir Richard Le Neve. The name is derived from the French Le Neveu, and is variously spelled as Le Neve, Neve, and Neave. The earliest record is a small deed dated about 1100, still in existence, by which two oxgangs of land in Ancaster, county York, were granted to Robert Neve by William de Malebisse on payment of a pound of pepper at Christmas annually. At a later date -- 1229 -- is attached a general release from Joseus de Frem, a Jew of York, to Henry Neve, a descendent of Robert Neve.

The family were well settled in Norfolk in the early part of the reign of Edward 1st, and they continued there until the reign of Charles II when they became somewhat impoverished and scattered.

It is difficult to say when the family first appeared in Kent but Robert Le Neve owned the manor of Woldham Hall alias Benlys Court in Woldham, and held it as one quarter of a Knight's fee. His heirs sold it to John atta Celar or Selere in 1350.

In the reign of Elizabeth the name appears well distributed in many parishes in East Kent : the wills of John Neve of Barham-1469 and Thomas Neve of Gravenye-1569 are at Canterbury. In 1603 Robert, son of Sir Thomas Cotton of Oxenheath in Kent, married Eleanor Neve and the wills of John Neve-1590 and Thomas Neve-1591 of Kent are at Somerset House.

The family has produced a few men of mark, of whom the following are the chief :

Sir William Le Neve of Aslacton, Norfolk, Knight
He was a distinguished Herald and Antiquarian. Was created Herald Extraordinary by the title of Mowbray 29 June 1624, soon after he was made York Herald. He attended Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I to England, and was royally rewarded by her Majesty by a gift of 1,000 French crowns after he attended an embassy to Louis XIII, King of France. He was afterwards made Norroy, and later Clarencieux King at Arms, as such he was with the King at the battle of Edgehill and was sent by him to the Earl of Essex, the parliamentary leader, with a promise of pardon. When he offered to read it aloud the earl rebuked him with roughness, which so upset him he went out of his mind. He was summoned to attend the coronation of Charles II but was unable and shortly after died and was buried in the Church of S. Bennets, Pauls Wharf, London August 15 1661.

Oliver Le Neve
Brother of Peter, killed Sir Henry Hobart. Oliver knew nothing of the sword but he had a coat of coarse cloth in which his adversaries weapon got entangled and so he killed him.

John Le Neve
Son of Firmian Le Neve of Cavendish in Suffolk, married Catherine, daughter and co-hier of R. Hope, clerk of the Spiceries to Charles I and II, died 1682.

Richard Le Neve
His son, was Captain of H.M.S. Edgar and was slain in action fighting against the Dutch at the Battle of Sole Bay, and was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1673. (Here's a photo of my cousin Rosemary Neve at the monument in Westminster Abbey.)

Sir Richard Neave
Was Governor of the Bank of England, and had considerable interests in the West Indies. He was created a baronet on May 13 1795. His seat is at Dagenham Park, Essex. His descent is hereafter given; being the senior branch of the family in direct descent from Robert Le Neve, who was living in 1486. The present head of the family is Sir Thomas Lewis Hughes Neave, Baronet, born 1874.

Robert Neve
Of Sandhurst, Kent took part in the Kentish Rising of 1648. It is stated that he defended "Stone" Church when the Parliamentary troops tried to take down the "sentences." He was eventually killed in a skirmish at Stilebridge, near Maidstone where a bridge is over the river Beult --  between Linton ane Maidstone -- and was buried under an altar tomb at Sandhurst. His family were in consequence deprived of their possessions.

Peter Le Neve
Another Herald and a notable man, was the son of Francis Neve "Citizen and Draper" by Avice, daughter of Peter Wright. He was born Jan 21 1661-2 and was appointed Rouge Dragon Pursuivant 17 Jan 1689-90 and created Norroy King at Arms May 25 1704. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society and F.R.A. He wrote a very elaborate pedigree of the Le Neve family, which will be found in the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, edited by C. A. Carthew F.S.A. He was a man of no mean ability, but very eccentric. He was buried at Great Witchingham 1 Oct 1729 and in the register is this entry :

"An epitaph on Peter Neve - Norroy, who lived and died an infidel"
Here underneath this spacious stone
Lies Peter Neve, that faithless one
His life and death declared the man
Deny it neighbours if ye can
and much more of the same nature and Mr Wagstaffe wrote a long epitaph in Latin. After his death his estates were claimed by John Norris Esq, who claimed the reversion on failure of male heirs. He had bought it for � 30 and at the trial it was contended this was no valuable consideration but after taking the case to the House of Lords, it was adjudged to be a fair price as there were so many remainders. The value of the etate was 1,500 � per annum of money of that day, of 4,500 � of this. It is the only case of the kind."

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Thus ends the handwritten pages my father passed on to me many years ago. But I would like to continue this and compile a list of " Notable Neves " and so I would like to add a few of my own :

Dr Arthur Neve FRCSE
Arthur was born in Brighton, Sussex in 1859. After taking medical training at Edinburgh University in 1876 and acting as house-physician in the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, he was appointed Resident Medical Officer to the Livingstone Memorial Dispensary and Training Institution, under the Medical Missionary Society and was a resident physician in 1881 at 39 Cowgate, Edinburgh.

Later he joined the Church Missionary Society and went to Kashmir in 1882. Besides writing several medical papers published in The Lancet, he was the author of several books, including : "Kashmir Ladakh and Tibet" (1899), "Picturesque Kashmir" (1900), "Thirty Years in Kashmir" (1913), and "The Tourist's Guide to Kashmir, Ladakh, Skardo &c" (1923).

In 1915 he entered the war effort and proceeded at once to the Kitchener Hospital, at Brighton, with the rank of Major, R.A.M.C. Later on he was transferred as surgical specialist to the Dartford Military Hospital. In 1918 he crossed over to France. In the spring of 1919 he returned to Kashmir but at the end of August 1919 was suddenly struck down by fever and died on the 5th of September in Kashmir.

Dr Ernest Neve FRCSE
Ernest was Arthur's younger brother by two years. Also born in Brighton, he joined his brother Arthur in medical training at Edinburgh University in 1878 and then followed him also to Kashmir in 1886. He was the author of several books, including : "Beyond the Pir Panjal. Life Among the Mountains and Valleys of Kashmir" (1912) and "A Crusader in Kashmir" (1928), the story of his brother's life and work, and "Things Seen in Kashmir" (1931).

Rupert Neve
Rupert Neve began his life in audio in Argentina, mending radios to bring people news of WW II. Arriving in England at 17, he converted a retired US army ambulance into a mobile studio, recording choirs, music festivals and public events on 78 RPM lacquer disks. These early steps led to his pioneering development of the modern recording console.

By 1964, Rupert had developed high performance transistor equipment that replaced traditional valve designs. His first client for the new transistor equipment was Phillips Records Ltd. The success of these units led to more orders from Phillips and other recording studios for mixing consoles. These attained a reputation for sonic clarity and excellent workmanship. Demand grew rapidly and by 1973 the Neve team had grown to over 500 members worldwide. During this period Neve introduced 'Moving Fader Automation', or NECAM, the first moving fader system.

In 1976, a Neve 16/4 console had been equipped with machine control and legendary producer George Martin was invited to try out the new system. After a day remixing masters his comment was, "How soon can I have one?"

Rupert Neve was inducted into the Mix Magazine Hall of Fame in 1989. He received the 1997 Technical Grammy Award, was honored as "Man of the Century," by Studio Sound Magazine in 1999, and was selected by his peers as the Number One Audio Personality of the 20th Century.

Over the last 20 years, operating as ARN Consultants, Mr. Neve has collaborated with a number of manufacturers to produce some of the finest audio consoles the industry has ever seen (or heard) — including the Amek 9098, the Focusrite Forte and Studio models, and with Legendary Audio, Masterpiece Mastering, Summit Audio and Taylor Guitars — to produce a variety of audio products, from preamplifiers to fully automated analog mixing consoles. Now based in Texas, Mr. Neve established Rupert Neve Designs in April 2005 and launched The Portico range of modular preamplifiers, equalizers, dynamics, image controllers and other new high performance products. His web site is here

Joseph Neve
Joseph was born in 1984 to Daniel and Rosalie Neve in Bellingen, New South Wales. In February of 2001, while still an 11 year student he was catapulted to international recognition for his winning entry in a national design to commemorate the centenary of the Australian federation. You can see his design and read the press release issued by the Royal Australian Mint giving the background to the contest and showing Joseph's winning design by clicking on this link : Royal Australian Mint. Congratulations, Joseph, from all the far-flung members of your extended family!

-- Derrick Neve   ( I can be contacted at this address : derrickj.neve@gmail.com )