Britwell Court Library

William Henry Miller
Member of the United Kingdom Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme
In office 1830–1841
Personal details
Born	1789 Craigentinny, Midlothian, Scotland
Died	1848 (aged 58–59) Craigentinny, Midlothian, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Residence	Britwell Court Craigentinny House

William Henry Miller (1789 – 31 October 1848) was a Scottish book collector and parliamentarian. He sat in the House of Commons from 1830 to 1837.

Miller the only child of William Miller of Craigentinny, Midlothian, was born in 1789. He received a liberal education, and throughout life retained a taste for classical literature. At the 1830 general election he entered Parliament as a Whig defeating Evelyn Denison (who was later Speaker) to become one of the two Members for the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. He was re-elected in 1831 as a Tory, and in 1832, 1835 and 1837, each time after a contest, and on two occasions at the head of the poll. In 1841, however, he was defeated, and he was again unsuccessful as a candidate for Berwick at the general election of 1847.

He died, unmarried, at Craigentinny House, near Edinburgh, on 31 October 1848, in his sixtieth year, and was by his own desire buried on his estate in a mausoleum erected after his decease, and decorated with sculptured friezes by Alfred Gatley, subsequently referred to as the Craigentinny Marbles.

A portrait of William Henry Miller, by Sir Thomas Lawrence, was engraved.

As a book collector, Miller was regarded as the successor of Richard Heber, and many of the rarest works from his collections of the latter passed into the library which he formed at Britwell Court, near Burnham, Buckinghamshire. He was particular in his choice of copies, and from his habit of carrying about with him a foot rule to measure the size of a 'tall' copy of a book which he wished to buy, he became known at sales and among collectors as 'Measure Miller.’

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