He was educated at Westminster School 1815–16, and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A.
[1][2] On 24 June 1828 Neale became lecturer of St. Hilda's Church, Jarrow, county Durham.
His knowledge of handwriting led to his being subpœnaed on the part of the crown at the trial of Ryves v. the Attorney-General in June 1866, when it was sought without success to establish the claim of Olivia Serres, the mother of Lavinia Ryves, to be the Princess Olive of Cumberland.
He died at Exning vicarage on 23 November 1883, after an incumbency of 29 years.
His major work was The Closing Scene, or Christianity and Infidelity contrasted in the Last Hours of Remarkable Persons (1st ser., 1848; 2nd ser., 1849); it ran to several editions, and was reprinted in America.