{{Short description|Australian businessman (1872 – 1934)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{infobox person | name = Lee Neil | image = File:TT3018 Lee Neil.png | caption = 1927 caricature by Will Dyson | birth_name = Edwin Lee Neil | birth_place = Chorlton-on-Medlock, Lancashire, England | birth_date = 13 October 1872 | death_date = 17 December 1934 | occupation = {{hlist|Accountant|Company director|company manager|managing director}}
}} '''Edwin Lee Neil''' {{postnominals|country=AUS|CBE}} (13 October 1872 – 17 December 1934) was an Australian businessman. He was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock and emigrated with his family to Australia in 1884. He joined his father's drapery firm, Wright & Neil, as an accountant in 1895.<ref name=ADB>{{cite AuDB | first = Paul H. | last = De Serville | author-link = | title = Neil, Edwin Lee (1872–1934) | volume = 10 | year = 1986 | id2 = neil-edwin-lee-7733 | access-date = 25 April 2020 }}</ref> The company was taken over by Sidney Myer in 1911, and Neil worked for Myer for the rest of his life. During World War I, there was a shortage of men and Neil recognised the ability of Adeline May Keating. In 1919 Keating sailed for Japan to purchase toys as stock for the company.<ref>{{Citation |last=Hellegers |first=Joan |title=Adeline May Keating (1885–1957) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/keating-adeline-may-10665 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |access-date=2023-12-22 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}</ref> He became managing director of Myer Emporium Ltd when it formed in 1925, and took over as chairman on Myer's death in September 1934.<ref name=obituary>{{cite news |title=Crossed the Bar: Fine Citizen Dies |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224390354 |access-date=25 April 2020 |work=Weekly Times |date=22 December 1934}}</ref> Neil himself, however, died a few months later.
Neil married Lucy Hunt in 1900, and they had a son and three daughters.<ref name=ADB /> Their son, Alan, served as a medical missionary with the South Seas Evangelical Mission and later became co-founder of a group known as the Fellowship.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zwartz |first1=Morag |title=Fractured Families: The Story of a Melbourne Church Cult |date=2004 |publisher=Paranesis Publishing |page=11}}</ref>
The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' describes Neil as a "tall, careful, religious, conservative man" and suggests that his "caution, business connexions and experience" complemented Sidney Myer's "intuitive flair and energy".<ref name=ADB /> He played the organ at St Hilary's, Kew and served as lay canon at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.<ref name=ADB /> Wei-Han Kuan notes that Neil was "capable and energetic both in mission societies and in diocesan affairs".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuan |first1=Wei-Han |title=Foundations of Anglican Evangelicalism in Victoria: Four Elements for Continuity, 1847-1937 |date=2019 |publisher=Wipf and Stock |page=194 |isbn=9781532682162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CfGaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT194 |access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> He was also instrumental in Myer's conversion to Christianity.<ref name=Kuan219>Kuan, ''Foundations of Anglican Evangelicalism in Victoria'', p. 219.</ref> Neil was a close friend of C. H. Nash, and he was the prime mover in the establishment of the Melbourne Bible Institute (now the Melbourne School of Theology) in 1920, with Nash as the founding principal. Kuan suggests that Neil considered MBI "a necessary institution for the training of overseas missionaries and as an appropriate avenue for the deployment of the exiled Nash's gifts," since Nash had been forced to resign from the Anglican Church.<ref name=Kuan219 />
Neil was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1926 for his work as Australian Commissioner at the British Empire Exhibition.<ref name=obituary />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Neil, Lee}} Category:1872 births Category:1934 deaths Category:People from Chorlton-on-Medlock Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia Category:Australian businesspeople Category:Australian Anglicans Category:Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire