Miller and Sons (London, Piccadilly)

Miller and sons were manufacturers of oil lamps with offices at 179 Piccadilly, London. They were registered as "Spermaceti-refiners, Wax Chandlers, Oil-merchants".[1]

History

The company of Miller and Sons, based at 179 Picadilly was founded prior to 1835,[2] possibly in the 1820s as a successor to F Glossop. George Alexander Miller who was involved in the business was awarded patent 6551 in 1834 for an improved arrangement of wicks in an Argand lamp.[3] His brother, Taverner John Miller, a ship-owner and sperm-oil refiner and merchant[4] who operated 'Messr T J Miller & Son' from a wharf on the Thames.[5]

Both companies exhibited at The Great Exhibition of 1851[6][7] George Alexander Miller purchased the adjoining 178 Piccadilly in 1857.[8] Horatio William Miller, who was associated with the business died in 1900[9] and the company moved from 179 Piccidilly in 1907–8.[8] Their father, Charles Taverner Miller (1773–1830), a wax chandler from Middlesex was awarded patent 5896 in February 1830 for certain improves in the making and manufacturing of candles.[10][11] and has a memorial in St James's Church, Piccadilly[12]

A pair of lamps made by Miller and sons from 1835 were sold in 2007 in New York by Christie's for $10,000[2] and another pair from 1840 fetched $8,800 in 2000.[13] A pair of their lamps are fitted to a horse-drawn fire engine from 1862 which is displayed in the Museum of London.[14]

Messr T J Miller & Son

Taverner John Miller, son of Charles Taverner Miller and brother to George Alexander Miller was a "ship-owner and sperm-oil refiner and merchant"[4] and ran a 'Sperm Oil merchants and Spermaceti refiners' business called 'Messr T J Miller & Son' from Dorset Wharf on the River Thames close to the Palace of Westminster.[5] The business was continued by George Taverner Miller (1839–1917) until 1906 when the Wharf was compulsorily purchased by London County Council for £68,000 (£7.37 million as of 2021[15]) to extend Victoria Tower Gardens.[16][17]

References
  1. "Lot 107: A LATE VICTORIAN PATINATED AND PARCEL-GILT BRASS TWIN-LIGHT TABLE LAMP". In 1835, Miller and Sons were registered as 'Spermaceti-refiners, Wax Chandlers, and Oil-merchants' with premises at 179 Piccadilly and 51 Old Compton Street. This may have been the wax chandler, George Miller, noted in 1824 as going into partnership with his son. Miller & Sons remained at this location until 1907. A similar table lamp was sold at Christie's South Kensington, 18 September 2007, lot 29
  2. "A pair of Willam IV silvered and gilt-brass oil lamps by Miller & sone, circa 1835". Christie's.
  3. Patent No 6551m A.D.1834 Lamps - Miller's Specifications
  4. Benjamin Disraeli Letters. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  5. "Westminster changes in 1905" (PDF). Oxford Journals. Retrieved 2011-10-15.
  6. Official Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations 1851. p. 120. 645: Miller & sons, 179 Piccadilly, and 370 Oxford Street. Inventor and manufacturer - Patent Admiralty regulation lights, Ship, carriage, railway, police, and reading lamps.
  7. Official Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851).
  8. "Piccadilly, South Side". British History Online. Between 1852 and 1854 G. A. Miller, the tenant of No. 179 Piccadilly, rebuilt three old houses, Nos. 179 and 180 Piccadilly and the adjoining house in Duke Street, as a single block of chambers with a shop on the ground floor for his business as an oilman and wax chandler. (ref. 103) In 1857 Miller purchased the adjoining property at No. 178 Piccadilly... The firm of Miller and Sons remained here until 1907–8. The building is now occupied by the French National Railways (S.N.C.F.).
  9. "865 THE LONDON GAZETTE, DECEMBER 21, 1900" (PDF).
  10. The Repertory of patent inventions. p. 191.
  11. The London Journal of Arts and Sciences page 341. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. 1931.
  12. "memorials". Charles Taverner Miller, 1 Sept. 1830.
  13. "A PAIR OF EARLY VICTORIAN ORMOLU BRONZE AND ETCHED GLASS OIL LAMPS". Each horn-shaped oil reserve with upswept and reeded neck below a gadrooned flared lip and leaf-cast top with gilt pomegranate finial, the boar's head-cast foot issuing acanthus scrolls and handle, on a concave stepped and stop-fluted rectangular plinth with disk feet, the mouth of the boar issuing a cylindrical nozzle with leaf-tip band, with a floral-etched glass baluster hurricane globe, each nozzle stamped MILLER & SONS/PATENT/179 PICCADILLY. Price Realized $8,813
  14. "Horse drawn fire engine: 19th century - Merryweather and Sons".
  15. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  16. "Corporation of London". The National Archive. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  17. Miller family records
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