John Miller of Leithen
John Miller of Leithen FRSE MICE DL (26 July 1805 – 8 May 1883) was a Scottish civil engineer and Liberal Party politician. Together with Thomas Grainger, he formed the influential engineering firm of Grainger and Miller, specialising in railway viaducts.
He was born in Ayr on 26 July 1805, the son of James Miller a wright and builder, and his wife Margaret Caldwell. He attended Ayr Academy and then studied Law at Edinburgh University going on to be a legal apprentice with an A Murdoch Esq, lawyer in Ayr. His interests then turned from Law to Engineering.
He went into partnership with Thomas Grainger in 1825. The partnership was responsible for many of Scotland's great railway projects. Miller took the lead role in surveying the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. He designed many viaducts, including the Lugar Viaduct, Cumnock and the Ballochmyle Viaduct, Mauchline.
Although primarily a railway engineer (including the design of railway stations) he was also responsible for the construction of Granton Harbour.
Miller trained the engineer Benjamin Blyth.
Miller was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1841 his proposer being the architect William Burn. The civil engineer James Deas apprenticed under Miller 1841 to 1844.
In 1842 he bought the Millfield Estate in Polmont near Falkirk and began building a large house to his own design, naming it Millfield House (demolished 1958). The family moved here when Miller retired from engineering in 1850. In 1852 he bought the 5260-hectare site of Leithen near Innerleithen enlarging a 16th-century house to 13,274 square feet (1,233.2 m2) to create Leithen Lodge. He thereafter styled himself John Miller of Leithen. In 1853 he also bought the smaller but still considerable estate of Drumlithie in Kincardineshire.
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