Early Life
Elizabeth Grace Neill was born 26 May 1846 in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was the oldest daughter of nine children born to James Archibald Campbell and Maria Grace of Barcaldine. Elizabeth Neill’s father was a retired colonel of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and he was also a deputy lieutenant of the county of Argyllshire and colonel of the militia in that area. Maria Grace was Campbell’s second wife. In Campbell’s household, discipline and intelligence were valued highly. Tall and red-headed, Elizabeth Neill was a very intelligent child and received a strong education. She was schooled partly at home and partly at a private school in Rugby. Her desire was to study medicine, which she undoubtedly would have done well at, but her father completely disapproved of her doing that. Instead she became a paying probationer nurse in St. John’s House Sisterhood in London. This institution supplied nursing staff to both King's College Hospital and Charing Cross Hospitals. Elizabeth Neill easily completed her training in general nursing and midwifery. She then became the lady superintendent at the Pendlebury Hospital for Children near Manchester. She stayed there for two years until she met Dr. Channing Neill, whom she eventually married much to her father’s dismay. He believed Dr. Neill was well below Elizabeth’s social class. Grace Neill had her mind made up, however, and married Dr. Neill anyway which resulted in her father casting her out of the family. She and Dr. Neill moved to Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, where they had their first and only son, James Oliver Campbell Neill.
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