James Millingen

James Millingen (18 January 1774 – 1 October 1845), was a Dutch-English archaeologist, now known as a numismatist.

He was the second son of Michael Millingen, a Dutch merchant originally from Rotterdam and then from Batavia in the western Netherlands, emigrated to England and settled in Queen's Square, Westminster (now Bloomsbury, Camden). James was born there. The physician and writer John Gideon Millingen was a younger brother.

James was educated at Westminster School, and attracted the attention of his father's friend and neighbour, Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, who encouraged him to study numismatics. In 1790 the family migrated to Paris, where James became a clerk in the banking house of M. Van de Nyver, a connection of his mother. After the events of 10 August 1792, Mrs. Millingen with her two sons left for Calais, but the elder Millingen brought them back to Paris. James obtained a post in the French mint. There he became acquainted with Mongér, the director, a well-known mineralogist, while he made the acquaintance at the Royal (or National) Library numismatic collection of the director, the Abbé Courcy Barthélemy, and of the geographer Barbié du Bocage, and also came to know Charles Athanase Walckenaer, De Non, D'Aumont, and other archaeologists. Late in 1792 Millingen was arrested as a British subject by a decree of the National Convention, and confined first in the prison of the Madelonettes, then in that of the Luxembourg, and finally in the Collège des Écossais, where he remained until released after the Thermidorian Reaction in July 1794. At the Collège des Écossais he became acquainted with two fellow-prisoners, Charles Este, son of the Rev. Charles Este (1753–1829), and Sir Robert Smith of Beerchurch Hall, Essex.

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