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 2024[14]) in 1906 by London County Council to extend Victoria Tower Gardens.[15][16]
References
- ^ a b c Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 3)
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 5)
- ^ a b Benjamin Disraeli Letters. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
- ^ a b "Westminster changes in 1905" (PDF). Oxford Journals. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
- ^ Official Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851).
Miller T.J. Dorset Wharf Spermacetti oil from the South Seas
- ^ "No. 21342". The London Gazette. 23 July 1852. p. 2037.
- ^ "Maldon Election". Hansard. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "No. 21983". The London Gazette. 31 March 1857. p. 1182.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "GEORGE FOX, Theft > pocketpicking, 1 December 1831". Old Bailey. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
- ^ "Piccadilly, South Side". British History on-line. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
- ^ The London Journal of Arts and Sciences page 341. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. 1931.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Corporation of London". The National Archive. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
- ^ Miller family records