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MILLER, HUGH (1802–1856)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 464 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MILLER, See also:HUGH (1802–1856) , Scottish geologist and See also:man of letters, was See also:born in humble circumstances at See also:Cromarty, on the loth of See also:October 1802; his See also:father, Hugh Miller, a See also:seaman, was drowned when he was but five years old. His See also:primary See also:education was acquired at a See also:dame's school and afterwards at the See also:parish school, and at the See also:age of six he had learned that " the See also:art of See also:reading is the art of finding stories in books." At the age of twelve he began to write verses. Two of his See also:mother's See also:brothers, See also:James and " Sandy " See also:Wright, hard-working men at Cromarty, offered to assist him to enter the See also:ministry, but he See also:felt no See also:call to the sacred See also:office, and from 182o to 1822 he was apprenticed to a See also:stone-See also:mason. During the next few years he obtained employment as a journeyman mason in See also:Edinburgh, See also:Inverness and various other parts of See also:Scotland. The See also:writing of verses occupied his leisure See also:hours, and in 1826 he sent to the Scotsman an " See also:Ode on See also:Greece " which was refused. It was not until 1829 that he met with his first success in the publication of Poems written in the Leisure Hours of a Journeyman Mason. These were printed and issued from the office of the Inverness See also:Courier. Miller now turned his See also:attention to See also:prose and contributed many essays to the Inverness Courier. As remarked by See also:Sir A. See also:Geikie, " These made so favourable an impression that they were soon afterwards reprinted separately. They marked the See also:advent of a writer gifted with no See also:ordinary See also:powers of narration and with the command of a pure, See also:nervous and masculine See also:style." At the age of See also:thirty-two he was still a stone-mason, but in the latter See also:part of 1834 he was offered a See also:post as accountant in the Commercial See also:Bank of Scotland, and was almost immediately transferred to the Cromarty See also:branch. His prose writings had now attracted much See also:notice, and he next issued in 1835 Scenes and Legends of the See also:North of Scotland, or the traditional See also:history of Cromarty, in which he introduced some memoranda on the See also:geology.

This See also:

work met with a cordial reception. Miller, while still a stone-mason, had observed the abundant fossils in the See also:Jurassic shales on the shores of Ethie, but it was not until 183o that he first obtained remains of fossil fishes in the Old Red See also:Sandstone. These for many years he collected and studied as far as he could, and in 1837 some of his specimens were brought to the notice of R. I. See also:Murchison and See also:Professor See also:Agassiz. In the following See also:year he was in communication with Murchison and his career as a geologist was definitely opened. In 1837 Miller married See also:Lydia See also:Falconer Frazer (1811?—1876), a See also:lady of See also:good position and See also:great natural ability, whom he had met six years previously. He set up his See also:household in Cromarty, on a See also:salary of sixty pounds a year, aided by the small sums he then earned by See also:literary work; and his wife took a few pupils. Mrs Miller eventually became well known under the See also:pseudonym of Mrs Harriet See also:Myrtle as author of the Ocean See also:Child (1857) and other See also:story-books for See also:children. Soon after his See also:marriage, Miller became greatly stirred by the See also:internal dissensions in the See also:Church of Scotland, of which he was a staunch member, and he published two See also:pamphlets which brought him to the notice of some of the prominent members of the liberal church party. In 1839 he went by invitation to Edinburgh to edit a new Whig newspaper, the See also:Witness, which was intended to support the views of those who after the disruption in 1843 formed the See also:Free Church. The See also:paper rapidly attained a large circulation; and this was no doubt largely due to his own literary and scientific essays.

In 1840 he contributed a See also:

series of articles on The Old Red Sandstone, and these were reprinted in See also:book See also:form in the following year. The See also:charm of this work was widely appreciated, as was also the natural sagacity shown in the descriptions and restorations of some of the fossil fishes. His Footprints of the Creator was published in 1849, and My See also:Schools and Schoolmasters in 1854. He was engaged on the final proofs of his Testimony of the Rocks on the See also:day of his See also:death. During the last year of his See also:life he suffered from inflammation of the lungs; and the See also:strain of See also:ill-See also:health proving too severe, he died by his own See also:hand in Edinburgh on the 23rd of See also:December 1856. By See also:request of his wife, The Cruise of the Betsey, with Rambles of a Geologist (1858) previously printed only in the Witness newspaper was published under the editorship of the Rev. W. S. See also:Symonds. In memory of Hugh Miller a See also:monument was erected by public subscription in 1860 at Cromarty; and the cottage in which he was born was acquired at a later See also:period by his son Hugh. In it have been placed part of his library, a set of the Witness newspaper, some letters addressed to him, and a number of See also:geological specimens, including many referred to in his Old Red Sandstone. On the 22nd of See also:August 1902 the See also:centenary of his See also:birth was celebrated at Cromarty, and was attended by scientific representatives from all parts of the See also:world.

His See also:

elder son, Hugh Miller (1850-1896), passed through the Royal School of Mines and joined the Geological Survey in See also:England in 1873; afterwards he was transferred to Scotland and surveyed the See also:country around Cromarty and other parts of See also:Ross-See also:shire and See also:Sutherlandshire. He was author of Landscape Geology, 1891. See The Life and Letters of Hugh Miller, by See also:Peter Bayne (2 vols., 1871) ; Hugh Miller; his work and See also:influence, address by Sir A. Geikie, at the centenary celebration. (H. B.

End of Article: MILLER, HUGH (1802–1856)

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