The Haileybury Society is saddened to learn of the death of Guy Beresford Campbell – “Berry” – Neill (A 40) who has died on 17th August in Northern Ireland, aged 94.

At Haileybury, Berry was Head of House and a Prefect, playing in the tennis team in 1943 and captaining the swimming team in 1944. He went on to serve as a Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade before achieving his ACA (Ireland) in 1951 (1st Place) and becoming FCA. A company director until his retirement in 1993 and a member of the Ulster Reform Club.

(Above, Berry Neill (A 40) in happier times – and a valued supporter of the Haileybury Society)

Berry’s daughter, Joanna, has supplied this tribute to her late father in which Members will be interested:

Guy Beresford Campbell Neill, known as Berry, was born on the 19th November 1925 in Northern Ireland-NI. His parents, Billy and Vera, met during the first world war while Billy was recovering from injuries sustained at The Somme. He was convalescing in Kent and local families invited soldiers out for Sunday lunch, which is where he met Vera Phelps. They were married at St Mary Abbot’s Kensington in February 1917 and made their home at Tyrella House, County Down, NI. After two daughters were born, Peggy and Nancy, they welcomed their only son.

Idyllic childhood

He recalled his childhood as idyllic, wandering that beautiful landscape in the shadow of The Mourne mountains with his labrador ‘Soot’. In 1929 things changed for his father as the Neill family coal business suffered losses in the world stock crash. Billy was recalled to run the Kingsberry coal business. So began a lifetime connection with the Queen’s Quay which only ended in the late 1990s for Berry, who ran the business after his father died, along with his cousin ‘Mr Brian’.

School days

Berry first attended Inchmarlo prep school in Belfast and then Mostyn House prep school in Cheshire in the 1930s, where he was able to view the bay where Nelson had sheltered his great fleet over winters in the late 18th century. Soon he transferred to Haileybury in Hertfordshire where he was in Allenby House from 1940 until 1944. He was Head of House of Allenby and a prefect. He was an outstanding pupil from school reports and a sporting hero along with his best friend Michael Dingley. He was on the tennis team in 1943 and swimming captain in 1944.

Berry was commissioned as a second Lieutenant into The Rifle Brigade on 17th November 1945, seeing in VE Day 1945 at Stukeley in North Yorkshire.

A change of plan

His dream was to go to Oxford to attend Oriel College and study history, where his great uncle the Rev Thomas Phelps had been The Provost. But it was not to be, as his father died suddenly and he went into the family coal business. He applied himself to his accountancy exams. He achieved ACA-Associate Chartered Accountant (Ireland) in 1951 (1st Place) and FCA-Fellow Chartered Accountant.

He married Barbara Jeffrey in January 1953 at St John’s church Malone, Belfast and converted the upper two floors in the family home in Deramore Park into their first home, while his Mother Vera lived downstairs. Eventually they had three daughters, Loraine, Belinda and Joanna to complete their happiness.

By the 1990s the writing was on the wall for the coal industry and he and Brian decided to sell the coal business. They agreed that in 47 years of working together they had never once had a cross word or disagreement. They felt they had done well for ‘Mr Kingsberry’s’ coal firm which he had started out of a small kiosk beside what is now the Queen’s Bridge in Belfast, and in the long proud history of the ‘Neills of Bangor coal merchants’.

Retirement years

Retirement meant plenty of time for gardening and contented holidays with Barbara at the seaside in Donegal and Ballycastle. Barbara died on 10th September 2008 and until his death, he lived in the house they designed together and built in the garden of the family home in Deramore, surrounded by his family which included 7 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

In due course, he found the companionship of his carers to be a great comfort and was proud of those warm friendships which developed. Their kindness and professional support to Berry is much appreciated by the family and will never be forgotten, as well as the supportive treatment he received recently at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

His legacy is a great one, most importantly to his family and those who had the honour of knowing and working with him over his long life. He was a father figure of business life in the city of Belfast and an honourable example to us all in his dealings in life. He had a strong, old fashioned faith which carried him through life’s challenges and he made a real difference to everyone he met.

Berry retained fond memories of Haileybury and was also a great supporter of the Haileybury Society through regular financial donations, for which we are very grateful. A service of thanksgiving was held for Berry on 20th August 2020 at the parish church of St Patrick, Drumbeg, near Belfast.