Background

Ernest Gordon Neal was born on May 20, 1911, in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. He came from a Christian household and his father was a Baptist minister. From early childhood Neal was passionate about butterflies and wildflowers, pursuing this interest even after the family moved to Battersea in 1917.

Education

Ernest Neal was educated in Taunton School, Somerset, United Kingdom. Then he studied at the University of London.

Career

In 1936 Ernest Neal was appointed biologist at Rendcomb College. After ten years, he became head of the science department at the Taunton School. He was a dedicated and inspiring teacher and a man with a broad range of interests in the natural sciences and in many other fields. His skillful teaching enabled many of his pupils to go on to university or other training and to develop successful careers in the sciences or in medicine. By 1960 he was named second Master and a housemaster before retiring in 1971.

His interest in badgers began in 1936 while he was at Rendcomb College and saw cubs near the school in the woods. He analyzed their eating habits and reproductive cycles and wrote about his findings. He was the first long-term scientific study of a British mammal which relied on direct observation and objective investigation and from it came his book, The Badger, published in 1948, the first monograph in the Collins "New Naturalist" series. It was a volume that has inspired tens of thousands of people to take an interest not only in badgers but in wildlife in general. Neal's interests were much wider than badgers however, and he was constantly fascinated by the complex interrelationships in both the natural world and among people.

In 1952, with Professor Humphrey Hewer, Neal began to make the very first film of wild badgers at night, a significant feat given the technology at the time. It was a work which required considerable dedication and took over three years to complete, using powerful lights to which the badgers had to become habituated. It was subsequently shown on television in 1954. During his lifetime, Neal took part in over 200 radio and television programs. Ernest Neal's interests were by no means confined to Britain. In 1962 he was invited by Stephen Curry, a former pupil and an entomologist with the Kenya Forestry Department to visit East Africa. Neal took his wife and combined it with a celebration of their silver wedding. In his own words, "Africa became an addiction."

In the late sixties, he was invited to carry out research on banded mongooses in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda and spent four months discovering a great deal about their basic biology which was previously unknown. He made a further 21 visits, many of them as a guest lecturer for Swan Hellenic and Ecosafaris. Naturally, his appetite for the way ecosystems work was fed to the full here and resulted in On Safari In East Africa - a Background Guide (1991). He also served for over 15 years on the Consultative Panel of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on Badgers and Tuberculosis from its inception in 1975. Among the veterinarians and government scientists, he felt he was the only totally independent voice representing the interests of the badger.

In retirement, he was never idle. He edited 12 volumes of the Helm Natural History series, and four of the Blandford Mammal Series. With his eldest son Keith, he wrote a textbook, Biology Today (1975). He published four more books on badgers, including The Natural History of Badgers (1986). His autobiography, The Badger Man: Memoir of a Biologist, appeared in 1994. It elegantly covers his life and his wide range of scientific and other interests in detail, including his wife and the family’s years at Rendcomb, and his teaching and scientific interests when he moved to Taunton School.

Achievements

• Ernest Neal was best known for his link with badgers and was recognized and awarded for his work as a biologist. He was honored with the Stamford Raffles Award of the Zoological Society of London. In 1976 he was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his work on nature conservation in Somerset. He was also awarded the Mammal Society's Silver Medal in 1980 for his work on mammals and for the society.

Works

More photos

• book

  • On Safari in East Africa

    (On Safari in East Africa by Ernest Neal is an essential s...)

    1991
  • The Natural History of Badgers

    (In The Natural History of Badgers, Ernest Neal discusses ...)

    1986
  • The Badger

    (In doing the preparatory work for this book, Ernest Neal ...)

    1948
  • Exploring Nature with a Camera 1946
  • Topsy and Turvey: My Two Otters 1961
  • Uganda Quest: African Wildlife after Dark 1971
  • The Badger Man 1994

Membership

Ernest Neal was one of the founder members of the Mammal Society, a unique blend of professional mammalogists and amateur enthusiasts. He believed strongly in the value of non-professional members and constantly promoted their interests, later giving substantial support to the establishment of a youth section, now called Mammalaction. He was to be the society's chairman for five years and later served for six years as its president.

He also helped found the Somerset Trust for Nature Conservation, now the Somerset Wildlife Trust, and was its chairman for fourteen years.

Personality

Ernest Neal always looked for the best in everyone he met, an attitude that gave him a very positive outlook on life.

He was a man who enjoyed and valued the special relationships of his family.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Ernest Neal was a man of strong Christian beliefs and principles devoted to his family. He was a very good teacher and gave loyal support to his colleagues at Rendcomb and Taunton and in his many other activities."

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  soccer and cricket

Connections

Ernest Neal married Elizabeth Thomson in 1937. The marriage produced three sons, Keith, David, and Andrew.

Wife:

Elizabeth Thomson