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Edmund Miller

1670-1730

Edmund Miller, son of John Miller, was born at Marsworth, Buckinghamshire.  After schooling at Eton he was admitted to Trinity as a pensioner, aged 16, in June 1686, but does not seem to have matriculated until 1688.  He won a scholarship in 1689 and graduated BA the following year.

Elected a Fellow in 1692, he received his MA in 1689-90.  He was admitted at Lincoln's Inn, London, in 1692-3, and was a Serjeant-at-Law.  He became a Baron of the Exchequer (Scotland), and served as MP for Petersfield (Hampshire) from 1722 to 1727.

Miller, a respected barrister, was a lay Fellow of Trinity, and the College Counsellor.  Visiting the College in 1709, just after the Master, Richard Bentley, had proposed that one-tenth of Fellows' salaries should be held back for the improvement of College livings, he found "most of the Fellows ... terrified, as well as dissatisfied, with what they thought was doing; they scarcely spoke to one another, but looked like so many prisoners, which were uncerain whether to expect military execution, or the favour of decimation."

Bentley realised that Miller was likely to upset his plan, by mobilising the other Fellows against him, and used a technicality of the statutes to threaten Miller with the invalidation of his fellowship.  As Miller had more sense than to rise to this threat, Bentley stormed out, saying "From henceforth, farewell peace to Trinity College."  He carried out his threat, removing Miller's name from the list of Fellows no fewer than three times, and the Vice-Master, Wolfran Stubbe, and other Fellows signed a letter of protest on Miller's behalf.

Miller was responsible for drawing up the petition sent to the Bishop of Ely which led to the sentence of expulsion from the Mastership served on Bentley.

Venn, Monk