| Richard Neile | |
| Began: | 1631 |
| Term End: | 1640 |
| Predecessor: | Samuel Harsnett |
| Successor: | John Williams |
| Birth Date: | 1562 |
| Death Date: | 1640 |
| Nationality: | British |
| Religion: | Church of England |
| Alma Mater: | St. John's College, Cambridge |
Richard Neile (1562-1640) was an English churchman, bishop of several English dioceses and Archbishop of York from 1631 until his death.
He was educated at Westminster School and at St John's College, Cambridge. His first important preferment was as dean of Westminster (1605); afterwards he held successively the bishoprics of Rochester (1608), Lichfield and Coventry (1610), Lincoln (1614), Durham (1617) and Winchester (1628).
While at Rochester he appointed William Laud as his chaplain and gave him several valuable preferments. His political activity while bishop of Durham was rewarded with a privy councillorship in 1627. Neile sat regularly in the courts of Star Chamber and high commission. His correspondence with Laud and with Sir Dudley Carleton and Sir Francis Windebank (Charles I's secretaries of state) are valuable sources for the history of the time.
Oliver Cromwell made only one speech during his first stint as a Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in the Parliament of 1628–1629, a poorly received attack against Neile, possibly over disagreement with his form of Arminianism.[1]