Author: Miller, Hugh
Biography:
MILLER, Hugh (1802-56: ODNB)
A geologist and evangelical journalist, he was born in Cromarty in the Scottish Highlands to Hugh Miller, a shipmaster, and Harriet (Wright) Miller. His father died in about 1809 and Miller was brought up by his mother and two uncles. Although a promising student at school he was expelled for fighting and, rather than apologise, decided instead to be apprenticed to his stonemason uncle. From 1822 he was a travelling stonemason but in 1825 ill health (he suffered from “stone-cutter’s malady,” a lung disease) forced a return to Cromarty. There he wrote poetry but wisely decided that his abilities favoured prose and journalism. His Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland (1835) display his talent for close observation and preserve local history and traditional lore. His interest in geology led him at this time to some important discoveries of fossil fish. The steady income he earned when he was made an accountant with the Commercial Bank of Cromarty allowed for his marriage to Lydia Mackenzie Falconer (also a writer; see her entry in the ODNB); of their five children, one died in infancy and another, Harriet Miller Davidson, was to write poetry and fiction (she also has an ODNB entry). Miller’s Letter from One of the Scotch People to Lord Brougham (1839) took the side of the Church of Scotland against interference from landowners and led to his recruitment as inaugural editor for The Witness, an evangelical periodical where his vigorous style quickly ensured its popularity. His The Old Red Sandstone (1841) was first published in The Witness and based on his Cromarty geological work. Miller’s engagement with the philosophical and practical issues raised by geology blended with his devoutly held Christian beliefs to help legitimise the discipline. He also wrote an autobiography, My Schools and Schoolmasters (1852). Suffering from chronic illness (recurrent bouts of his lung disease) and depression (possibly from neurological damage), he died from suicide at his Edinburgh home; his funeral attracted a huge attendance and he was buried in Edinburgh’s Grange cemetery. His wife edited several of his books after his death. (ODNB 16 Apr 2020) SR