Author: Miller, Thomas
Biography:
MILLER, Thomas (1807-74: ODNB)
He was a very prolific poet and novelist but most of his works were published in the Victorian period. He was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, on 31 Aug. 1807 to George Miller, a wharf manager, and his wife. The name of his mother is not known but she raised him after the sudden disappearance and presumed death of his father. His mother remarried and his stepfather taught him basket-weaving. Miller became an itinerant basket seller at the age of nine after just a few years of education at the White Hart Charity School. He took advantage of any opportunity to read books, including at his grandfather’s farm where he also learned to appreciate nature and the countryside. He settled in Nottingham where he married Mary Anne Potter (d 1851) on 22 Sept. 1827; they had four children but just three were still alive at the time of Miller’s death. He was a member of the Foresters, a Nottingham literary society, which encouraged him to publish his verse. The family moved to London in about 1834 where they lived near Elephant and Castle but he struggled financially. In Jan. 1835 Cornelius Webbe (q.v.) made an application to the RLF on his behalf; over the next 40 years Miller and his family were to receive £415 from the Fund, more than any other applicant. Miller sent some of his poems to Marguerite Power, Countess of Blessington (q.v.) and through her met other writers who promoted his work. He contributed to the literary annuals, wrote novels, and, helped by Samuel Rogers (q.v.), tried his hand at bookselling. Despite his efforts and prodigious output across different genres, he was exploited by unscrupulous publishers. For most of his life he remained impoverished and, at times, almost destitute. He died of a stroke on 5 Oct. 1874 at home on New Street, Kensington, and was buried in the cemetery at Norwood. His daughters subsequently wrote to the RLF for financial relief and in 1877 the Fund was asked to contribute to fees for one daughter at the Brookwood Lunatic Asylum. Although Miller lived in cities, his works are best known for their depiction of the countryside. (ODNB 25 Sept. 2021; ancestry.co.uk 25 Sept. 2021; RLF file 816)
Other Names:
- T. Miller