Author: Neale, M. A.
Biography:
NEALE, M. A., formerly COWDELL (1792?-1861: findmypast.com)
There is some room for uncertainty about her date of birth but the general outlines of her biography are clear. The record of death indicates a birth date of 1792, as does her marriage record, but in the census of 1841 she gave her year of birth as 1796, and she was not baptised until 1797. She was born and bred in Leicestershire, the daughter of George and Ann or Anna (Johnson) Cowdell, who had married in Leicester in 1787 and had Mary Ann baptised at Lutterworth, Leicestershire, on 4 June 1797. On 10 June 1811, a minor aged 19, she married John Neale, Esq. (1776-1850), of Skeffington, Leicestershire, at St. Martin’s, Leicester, with the explicit permission of her father. The couple had two sons, John (1814-31) and George Cowdell (1818-1902) and lived at Skeffington Cottage all their lives. (The enlarged 1838 edition of Smiles and Tears includes an illustration showing the house.) In the 1841 census Neale indicated that he had an independent income, and in 1851, after his death on 2 Jan. 1850, his widow described her occupation as “annuitant and house proprietor.” She in the end left effects valued at under £2000. After her death on 3 Aug. and burial on 14 Aug. 1861, the surviving son George must have arranged for the tombstone in the graveyard of the parish church, St. Thomas à Becket, that includes inscriptions in memory of his parents and his brother. (findmypast.com 25 Feb. 2024; ancestry.com 25 Feb. 2024; Leicestershire Mercury 31 Aug. 1838, 3 Nov. 1838)