Richard Milles (c. 1735 – 14 September 1820) was an English landowner, horticulturalist and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1761 to 1780.

Early life

Milles was the son of Christopher Milles of Nackington, and his wife Mary Warner, daughter of Richard Warner of North Elmham Norfolk.[2] He was educated at Westminster School and at St John's College, Cambridge. He entered Lincoln's Inn in 1753.[3] He was a country gentleman with large estates.[2] Before 1761, he went on the Grand Tour of Europe.[4]

Career

He was noted as a botanist and planted an orchard at his garden at North Elmham.[4]

Milles was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Canterbury in 1761[5] and won that and two subsequent election by a comfortable majority, holding the seat to 1780, when he did not stand.[2][6]

Personal life

Portrait of his daughter, Mary Elizabeth Milles, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1789, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Milles married on 9 October 1765, Mary Elizabeth Tanner, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Tanner, DD, Prebendary of Canterbury. Together, they had their only daughter in 1767

References

  1. Portrait of Richard Milles, National Gallery
  2. 1 2 3 4 J. Brooke, Lewis Namier The House of Commons 1754–1790, Volume 3
  3. "Milles, Richard (FML753R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. 1 2 Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society 1937, p501–07
  5. Pages 99 to 102,Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
  6. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)
  7. Metropolitan Museum of Art Hon Mrs Lewis Thomas Watson
  8. Christies – Gainsborough Portrait of the Hon Mrs Watson
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