Biography

He served first as an ensign then as a lieutenant in the 40th Regiment under Wellington. His regiment arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1824 and he was gazetted as a captain in 1828. He transferred into the 60^th Regiment for a few years and had charge of the ordnance stores in Hobart. He retired from the army in 1833.

He was granted 407 acres of land which he called 'Rostella' on the east bank of the Tamar River, opposite Freshwater Point.

His wife was Jeanette Maria Higgins, whom he married before 1841. They had five children.

In the 1830s, when 'Rostella' was being made ready for the family, the workmen were called upon to "bail up" by an armed gang of bushrangers. When the leader of the gang found out whose property they had violated, he urged his men to return the loot to the house and take only a few provisions, for it is said the bush ranger maintained that Captain Neilley had saved him from many a flogging while in Hobart.

The captain was a friend of Dr Matthias Gaunt- who built the church at Windermere in 1842. Both men were appointed churchwardens in 1846 at the first meeting of parishioners. For the years remaining to him William interested himself in his family and property, the church, raising sheep and enjoying the river. He died in February 1864. Jeanette, his widow, died at Brighton, Victoria, in September 1881. 'Rostella' was sold in 1886 to the Coulson family.

In memory of William and Jeanette a memorial window was erected in the chapel of St. John's Church by their grandchildren. It features 'The Centurion of the Gospel' and has the following inscription:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF
CAPTAIN WILLIAM NEILLEY,
OF ROSTELLA, EAST TAMAR,
WHO SERVED HIS COUNTRY IN THE 40TH REGT.
IN THE PENINSULAR WAR AND AT WATERLOO.
DIED 5TH FEBRUARY 1864 AGED 74 YEARS.
ALSO OF JEANETTE, HIS WIFE,
WHO DIED 7TH SEPTEMBER 1881, AGED 73 YEARS

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