Taverner John Miller

Taverner John Miller (1804 – 27 March 1867)[1][2] was an English businessman and Conservative Party politician. He was the owner of a whaling business based in Westminster, London and held a seat in the House of Commons from 1852 to 1853, and from 1857 to 1867.

Biography

Miller lived at 1 Millbank, London and was a "ship-owner and sperm-oil refiner and merchant".[3] He ran a 'Sperm Oil merchants and Spermaceti refiners' business called 'Messr T J Miller & Son' from Dorset Wharf, on the site of the current Victoria Tower Gardens by the Houses of Parliament[4] and exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851.[5]

Miller was elected as MP for Maldon in the 1852 general election.[6] However an election petition and an investigation into corrupt practices in the borough (in which he was not implicated) led to the election being declared void on 18 March 1853;[1][7] the writ was suspended[1] and the by-election was not held until August 1854.[8] In February 1857 he stood unsuccessfully at a by-election in Colchester, but won the seat at the general election in March 1857[9] and held it until his resignation on 5 February 1867 by taking the post of Steward of the Manor of Northstead.[3][10] He married Marian Cheyne in 1838 and was a Church Warden of St Johns Westminster in 1855.[4] In 1831 he appeared as primary prosecution witness at the trial of a 19-year-old George Fox at the Old Bailey where Fox was convicted for pickpocketing Miller's silk handkerchief and was sentenced to be transported for fourteen years.[11]

His brother, George Alexander Miller, an "oilman and wax chandler" founded Miller and Sons which had premises at 179 Piccadilly.[12] Their father, Charles Taverner Miller (1773–1830) was a wax chandler from Middlesex who has a patent (5896) in his name for an improved method of making candles in 1830[13] His whaling business was continued by his son, George Taverner Miller (1839–1917) until Dorset Wharf was compulsorily purchased for £68,000 (£9.24 million as of 2025[14]) in 1906 by London County Council to extend Victoria Tower Gardens.[15][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)
  2. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 5)
  3. ^ a b Disraeli, Benjamin; Gunn, John Alexander Wilson; Wiebe, Melvin George (January 1982). Benjamin Disraeli Letters. ISBN 9780802087287. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
  4. ^ a b "Westminster changes in 1905" (PDF). Oxford Journals. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  5. ^ Anonymous (7 July 2011). Official Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851). ISBN 9781108029995. Miller T.J. Dorset Wharf Spermacetti oil from the South Seas
  6. ^ "No. 21342". The London Gazette. 23 July 1852. p. 2037.
  7. ^ "Maldon Election". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 19 April 1853. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
  8. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 201. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
  9. ^ "No. 21983". The London Gazette. 31 March 1857. p. 1182.
  10. ^ Department of Information Services (14 January 2010). "Appointments to the Chiltern Hundreds and Manor of Northstead Stewardships since 1850" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  11. ^ "GEORGE FOX, Theft > pocketpicking, 1 December 1831". Old Bailey. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  12. ^ "Piccadilly, South Side". British History on-line. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
  13. ^ The London Journal of Arts and Sciences page 341. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. 1931.
  14. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  15. ^ "Corporation of London". The National Archive. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  16. ^ Miller family records
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Maldon
1852–1853
With: Charles du Cane 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Colchester
1857–1867
With: John Gurdon Rebow to 1859
Philip Papillon 1859–1865
John Gurdon Rebow from 1865 		Succeeded by