Martin Neary

Martin Gerard James Neary LVO (28 March 1940 – 27 September 2025) was an English organist and choral conductor. He was master of music at Winchester Cathedral from 1972 to 1988, and organist and master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey from 1988 to 1998. He commissioned new works from composers including Jonathan Harvey and John Tavener. In 1997 he was music director of the funeral service for Princess Diana.

Life and career Neary was born in London on 28 March 1940. He attended the City of London School. where he was organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College. After he initially considered studying to enter the Anglican ministry, he decided to pursue music, feeling that it "provided ... a means of expression, with a power beyond that of words".

Westminster Abbey Neary was organist and master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey from 1988 to 1998. In the 1998 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) "for services in connection with the funeral of the late Diana, Princess of Wales".

On 22 April 1998, Wesley Carr, the Dean of Westminster Abbey, dismissed Neary from his position on the grounds of alleged gross misconduct regarding the finances of a company that he and his wife had set up to administer fees from concerts at the abbey. Neary petitioned Queen Elizabeth II, as visitor of the abbey, to resolve the dispute. The Queen appointed Charles Jauncey, Baron Jauncey of Tullichettle, to be her commissioner. After a 12-day hearing, Lord Jauncey determined that the decision to dismiss the organist and his wife "must score gamma minus on the scale of natural justice",

Later years Neary was the first conductor of the Millennium Youth Choir of the Royal School of Church Music. He became organist of St Michael and All Angels Church, Barnes, where he raised the quality of the choir to a level to perform Bach's St John Passion. He retired due to Parkinson's disease.