Neill attended Wrekin College, joined the 49th West Riding Divisional Engineers and was group commander for the Sheffield Defence Corps.
Neill attended Wrekin College and then spent two years in Germany to gain business experience; in 1910 he began working for the family company, and although he was appointed a director in 1916, he mostly spent the First World War in Europe. He had joined the 49th West Riding Divisional Engineers in 1913, serving with them in France from 1915 to 1918 and earning the Distinguished Service Order and the French Croix de Guerre in the process. He was group commander for the Sheffield Defence Corps in 1940 and later commanded the Hallamshire Sector of the Home Guard, for which service he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1942. 
