John Ontario Miller

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Sir John Ontario Miller, KCSI (August 7 1857 – January 19 1943) was a British civil servant in India. He was born in Toronto, Canada, the eldest son of Robert Schaw Miller and Eliza Miller. He died at Lavant, Sussex.

John joined the Indian Civil Service in 1879 after going to King’s College at Aberdeen (he had won a bursary of £35 in 1874). Given the trade and commercial background to his family, it is surprising that their John Miller should join the Indian Civil Service, a profession and area with which the family had no apparent links. It is possible that a member of staff at his Scottish university had the contacts which enabled John to sit the exam necessary to enter the ICS. It seems probable that he attended one of the two crammer schools in London to give him the sufficient extra education necessary to pass the exam which he probably took in 1878. He must have done well in the exam to have qualified for later postings in Northern India. He probably took his first furlong back to England in 1887 and was possibly on the same boat taking his future father-n-law Alfred Comyn Lyall back to England to start his retirement. Had he come to Lyall’s notice prior to their departures to the UK. Where his initial postings were is unclear other than he must have been in the Punjab in 1889 where his eldest daughter Evelinia was born, a position he must have obtained through his new wife’s uncle James Broadwood Lyall who was Lieutenant-Governor of the province at the time. John would have a working knowledge of the Hindi language, a requirement for the region of India he was posted to. He held various secretary positions from 1895 to 1907. He was Chief Secretary to the North West Provinces and Oudh Administration by 1900 (and also appointed Companion to the Order of the Star of India). He was Chief Commissioner of Central Provinces and Berar from 1905 to 1907. He then became a member of Viceroy Executive Council of India and Commissioner of Legyral Province from 1907 to 1910. For his work he was awarded Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in the 1901 New Years Honours List.

On his final return to Great Britain John became chairman of the London Port Authority. He served in the Ministry of Food (probably at the time of the First World War). His obituary appeared in the Scotsman newspaper when he died in 1942. He was a founder of the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1895. He was interested as he described as “the currency question” publishing two small books on this subject in 1920 and 1931.

He married Mary Evelyn Lyall (the youngest daughter of Alfred Comyn Lyall) in 1888. They had three sons (of whom one died young in India) and two daughters. He brought his family back to the United Kingdom for short break in 1894 and 1899. After their final return to England, Sir John and Lady Miller first lived at Rowley Lodge in Arkley, Hertfordshire (at least between 1908 and 1911). They then moved to Robson’s Orchard at Mid-Lavant in Sussex sometime after 1914 (more probably after 1918).

He was a grandson of William Mitchell (Scottish entrepreneur) (1781 - 1854). One of his grandchildren is Richard L. Hills.