William Miller (missionary)

Reverend William Miller CIE (13 January 1838 – July 1923) was a Scottish educationalist and Free Church of Scotland missionary to Madras. He was also a member of Madras Legislative Council for four terms—in 1893, 1895, 1899, and 1902.

He was chiefly notable for transforming Madras Christian College into an ecumenical enterprise and imbuing the minds of Madras Province South Indians with Fulfilment theology, with an idea of "Christ the fulfiller"—in a sense, he is considered not only the pioneer of Fulfilment theology, but also of Hindu Renaissance by making Indian converts to think Christianity in Indian context. He was the recipient of Kaiser-i-Hind Medal and the first LL.D, honoured by the Madras University.

Miller was born Thurso in 1838, and was educated at Aberdeen University and Edinburgh University.

He arrived Madras in 1864 at the age of twenty-four, as the only missionary of the Free Church of Scotland in Madras city at the time of his arrival. Initially, as a missionary, he was engaged in outdoor preaching, congregational work, medical aid, and the education of boys and girls.

Madras Christian College received vitality with the arrival of Miller in 1862, and soon became the greatest architect of the college. In 1863, he envisioned that only Christian education could train the greatest leaders of India, he began to specialise on the institution that later became the Madras Christian College—A Christian school[General Assembly School] founded on 3 April 1837 by John Anderson, Scottish missionary and the founder of the mission of the Free Church of Scotland at Madras, later became known as Madras Christian College that grew from the school into a college and then Campus under the leadership of William Miller. After he took over the college succeeding Anderson, within two years of his arrival, he upgraded the school into a college and reoriented the educational policy of the institution. The first college class was formed in 1864, studying for the First examination in Arts(FA) of the university. By 1865, the first class of six students appeared for matriculation examination. And, by 1867, a new class was opened to prepare for the BA courses. Miller procured the support of leading missions, including Anglican, Wesleyan, and Presbyterian bodies that ultimately turned a small sectarian institution into a mammoth and a central Christian college for all South India, and soon to be in the front rank of all institutions in India. Miller transformed the institution into an ecumenical and co-operative enterprise and named it as Madras Christian College on 1 January 1877.

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