Philip John Miles

Philip John Miles (1774–1845) was an English merchant from Bristol. He became a banker, slave owner on plantations in Jamaica, and Tory politician. He left an estate of over £1 million, making his the first recorded millionaire of Bristol.

He was born on 1 March 1774, the second son of William Miles, a Bristol West India merchant, and his wife Sarah Berrow. His elder brother William died in 1790, and he inherited from his father, a financier in the sugar and Atlantic slave trade, in 1803.

Miles was a partner in Miles Bank of Bristol, and later Miles, Harford & Co. He had Leigh Court at Abbots Leigh rebuilt, 1814–8. He sat three times as a Member of Parliament, for Westbury from 1826, for Corfe Castle from 1829, and for Bristol from 1835. Under the Slave Compensation Act 1837 he received money from properties in Jamaica and Trinidad.

Miles died on 24 March 1845.

Miles married:

From the first marriage there was a son, Sir William Miles, 1st Baronet,and four daughters; from the second seven sons and four daughters. The sons of the second marriage included:

...
Wikipedia