Geoffrey de Neville (died 1193) was the 2nd feudal baron of Ashby in Lincolnshire.^[1]

He was the son and heir of Gilbert de Neville (d.1166/9), 1st feudal baron of Ashby, to whom King Henry II had granted the manors of Ashby and Toynton in 1162.^[2] Gilbert's lands were valued at £15 per annum and were held by military service of one knight.^[3]

At some time before 1176 he married (as her second husband) Emma de Bulmer (d.1208), widow of Geoffrey de Valognes,^[4] daughter of Bertram de Bulmer (d.pre-1166) and heiress of her brother William de Bulmer (d.1176/8).^[5] Emma's father held 3 1/5 knight's fees^[6] and in the mid-twelfth century his estate was the joint largest in the "dominion of Saint Cuthbert" (i.e. County Durham).^[7] She brought to her husband several estates, including Brancepeth Castle (built by the Bulmer family) in County Durham and Sheriff Hutton Castle (built by Bertram de Bulmer, near Bulmer,^[8] the original seat of the family), Raskelf and Sutton-in-the-Forest, all in Yorkshire. It is believed that the bull crest of the Neville family was a canting reference to their Bulmer ancestry, possibly even the crest of the Bulmer family.^[9] By Emma he had children:

• Henry de Neville (d.1227), son and heir, who married a certain Alice but died childless when his sole heir became his sister Isabel.^[10]

• Isabel de Neville (d.1248/54),^[11] sister and heiress of her brother, who married firstly Robert FitzMaldred (1170/4-1242/8) of Raby Castle, Staindrop in County Durham. She is believed to be represented by one of the surviving female effigies in Staindrop Church.^[12] Their children adopted her surname in lieu of their patronymic, but retained their own arms of Gules, a saltire argent, and became the great Neville family prominent in British history, the senior representative in a direct male line surviving today in the person of Christopher Nevill, 6th Marquess of Abergavenny (born 1955). She married secondly Gilbert de Brakenberg.^[13] By Robert FitzMaldred she had children including:
  • Geoffrey "de Neville" (d.circa 1242), eldest son and heir, who adopted his maternal surname in lieu of his patronymic and married a certain Joan.^[14] He predeceased his mother, possibly also his father, but left a son Robert de Neville (d.1282), Sheriff of Yorkshire and Sheriff of Northumberland (1258) and heir to his grandmother Isabel de Neville.