John Mason Neale was born in London in 1818, studied at Cambridge, where he also served as tutor and chaplain, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1842. Chronic ill health made parish ministry impractical, but in 1846, he was made warden of Sackville College, a charitable residence for the poor, which position he held for the rest of his life. Both a scholar and a creative poet, his skillsin composing original verse and translating Latin and Gr…