484:- and most especially, King James' attempts to impose the Catholic Church on England - increasingly alienate Burnaby. Moreover, in a personal encounter with the King, Burnaby is roughly berated and insulted for having voted in Parliament against the King's wishes. Increasingly, Burnaby finds himself aligned with Whigs, with whom he earlier had nothing in common - and even more so does Burnaby's son Nick, now a rising young barrister in London who is drawn ever deeper into opposition to King James. When the
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466:. Despite their sharp political differences, Burnaby and Gibson come to deeply respect each other, and they share the anxiety lest the unfolding crisis escalate beyond control and England be plunged again into all-out civil war. Eventually, Burnaby's son marries Gibson's daughter, with the full blessing of both fathers. Meanwhile, the episode of the
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to his throne. At the same time, Burnaby is also busy courting and winning his beloved Alison. Finally, the Stuart
Restoration is achieved, and the grateful King knights Hal Burnaby in recognition of his valiant service. However, Burnaby dislikes the opulence and corruption of the Restoration court
480:. Hal Burnaby, by his part in the Exclusion Crisis, had a share in bringing this result about. However, he soon finds himself unable to render to the new King the same kind of enthusiastic loyalty he had given to his dead brother. King James' autocratic conduct, the bloody suppression of the
246:, and contemporary documents, using textbooks only as a means of identifying such sources. He would visit the scenes of intended novels, going over the ground personally to ensure that his books would be authentic. Neill told a tale of one Lancashire bookseller who, before putting
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is an accomplished fact and James Stuart boards a barge en route to irrevocable exile, Hal
Burnaby - still a staunch Royalist at heart - is among the small crowd coming to see him off. Despite everything, Burnaby feels a bit guilty about having helped to dethrone
453:(1679-1681) Hal Burnaby is again drawn deeply into public affairs, when being elected Member of Parliament for his rural constituency. Staunchly loyal to King Charles, he takes part in the Royalist efforts to block the newly founded, militantly Protestant
493:, Burnaby being the adjutant and Gibson - a Colonel of Horse. Happily, there is little need for actual fighting - King James had managed to unite almost everybody in England, so that there were few left to fight for him. Still, once the
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heightens tensions to the point that a new civil war seems inevitable, Burnaby discovers that this time he and Gibson are on the same side. The two of them eventually play a major role in forming an armed body to support the
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party - which seeks to exclude the King's
Catholic brother, the Duke of York, from succession to the throne. Conversely, Burnaby's neighbor and fellow MP is Richard Gibson, an ex-Colonel in Oliver Cromwell's
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In 1952, Neill gave his view that "The historical novel should not be a straightforward chronicle, that would be most dull, but should be a blend of recorded fact and plausible imagination."
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438:- erected and maintained by Cromwell's strong personality - starts shaking. Hal Burnaby - a young Cavalier - gets deeply involved in the complicated and risky business of restoring
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ends with a
Royalist victory and the humiliation of the Whigs - but the underlying problems had not been resolved, and they would burst out even more fiercely a few years hence.
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history and legend. He was a critical reader, alive to errors in detail and accuracy, and began, with his aunt's encouragement, to consider that he could do better himself.
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130:, published in 1951, which has remained in print since first appearing. The novel presents a fictional account of the events leading up to the famous
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who would become the Duke of
Marlborough. This plot element might have been intended to introduce a further Burnaby book, set during the reign of
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on display, checked all places and distances in the book, stating that if there were any inaccuracies, his customers would bring the books back.
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Neill had always had an interest in historical fiction, which he described as arising from his liking for historical buildings and for
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Martin
Cookall, "Books'n'stuff", 9 November 2012, "Recognising Robert Neill: Crown and Mitre, The Golden Days, Lillibullero".
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150:, England, into a family with long-standing local connections. His great-grandfather, also called Robert Neill, was a former
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Centuries". As actually written, the
Burnaby books end with the Glorious Revolution which is still in the 17th century.
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the publisher, Hutchinson of London, noted that "Robert Neil plans a whole sequence of books about the
Seventeenth
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Neill continued to live in
Cheltenham for several years but eventually returned to the northwest, settling in
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Books by Robert Neill. Critical reviews of all the novels and some background information are to be found at
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includes a part where John, Hal
Burnaby's elder son, enters the service of Princess Anne - the future
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126:(19 November 1905 – 1979) was an English writer of historical fiction, best known for his debut novel,
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609:(4 October 1952) - interview by Wilf Cox, retrieved from Lancashire Public Records Office, Preston
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597:(1955) - profile by Joan Pomfret, retrieved from Lancashire Public Records Office, Preston
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173:(a choice he would later describe as a mistake). He became a research worker for the
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476:(1975): With the death of King Charles, the Catholic Duke of York does become King
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and prefers to retire with Alison to the quiet life of a country gentleman.
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His work was based upon extensive research into original sources, such as
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Some notes on Robert Neill, his novels and the historical background
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England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
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England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
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Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period
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People educated at King Edward VII and Queen Mary School
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Though the majority of his books were set in and around
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154:(two terms, 1866–68), though his mother came from
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652:Academics of the University of Gloucestershire
619:fantasticfiction.co.uk FantasticFiction.co.ca
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165:, on the Lancashire coast, before reading
111:Learn how and when to remove this message
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449:(1972): In the turbulent years of the
181:, and an Electrical Lieutenant in the
175:Scottish Marine Biological Association
657:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
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49:adding citations to reliable sources
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353:(1958) (re-titled in paperback,
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504:: In the blurb of the 1970
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430:(1970): With the death of
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16:British writer (1907–1979)
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238:Research method and style
373:The Shocking Miss Anstey
325:(1952) (American title,
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304:and the working site:
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495:Glorious Revolution
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379:The Devil’s Weather
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