John Millington

Background

John Millington was born on 11 May 1779, in Hammersmith, near London. He was the son of Thomas Charles Millington, an attorney, and his wife, Ruth Hill.

Education

Millington entered Oxford University but because of his father's poverty withdrew without a degree, studied law, and in the years following 1803 had a considerable practice as a patent agent. In some way, time and place unknown, he apparently acquired the degree of M. D. He never practiced medicine, nor did he ever engage in the general legal practice, but devoted himself to engineering and teaching.

Career

In 1806, Millington was admitted a fellow of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts (later the Royal Society of Arts). He is said to have been associated with McAdam in road-building, to have been an engineer of the West Middlesex water works, and to have served as superintendent of "the royal grounds in London, or at Kew. " In 1815, the Royal Institution engaged him to give a course of about twelve lectures on natural philosophy at three guineas a lecture. From this time until 1829, he gave annual courses of lectures on natural philosophy, mechanics, and astronomy before the Institution, and on July 7, 1817, was appointed a professor of mechanics there. In 1820, he became one of the original fellows of the Astronomical Society of London and served as secretary for the three years 1823 to 1826. In December 1823, he was elected a member of the Linnean Society of London. Upon the organization of the University of London, he was appointed the first professor of engineering but resigned before the university was opened. During these busy years in London, invented and patented a ship's propeller; published in 1823 his Epitome of the Elementary Principles of Mechanical Philosophy, which had a second edition in 1830; taught chemistry in Guy's Hospital; and was vice-president of the London Mechanics' Institution. At the age of fifty, as an engineer and teacher of science in his native London, he had approached greatness, though at a respectful distance. He now set out upon a career of almost forty years of restless wandering. In 1830 and the year following, he was in Mexico, employed by an English company as superintendent of a group of mines and of a mint. He conducted a shop which professed to supply "all the various machines, instruments, apparatus and materials, required for mechanical, philosophical, mathematical, optical and chemical purposes". In 1835, he accepted the chair of chemistry, natural philosophy, and engineering in the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia. While there, he wrote his Elements of Civil Engineering, published in 1839, possibly the first American textbook on the subject. In 1848, he was elected the first professor of the natural sciences in the newly organized University of Mississippi at Oxford, Mississippi. He also served as head of the geological survey of the state, though B. L. C. Wailes did the work. In 1853, he became a professor of chemistry and toxicology in the Memphis Medical College. At the age of eighty, he retired to his new home at La Grange, Tenn. The Civil War reduced him to poverty. He fled to Philadelphia, seeking a livelihood, and finally found a haven at the home of his daughter in Richmond, Virginia. He died in July 1868 and was buried in the churchyard of Bruton Parish in Williamsburg. In youth the friend of Herschel, Faraday, and Davy, he spent his old age teaching the natural sciences to the restless sons of the Old South.

Achievements

• John Millington invented and patented a ship's propeller. His wife Emily died leaving a number of small children. A few years later, he was in Philadelphia, marrying Sarah Ann Letts. He was the first professor of the natural sciences in the University of Mississippi at Oxford, Mississippi.

Membership

a member of the Linnean Society of London

Connections

Millington married Emily, daughter of Sir William Hamilton, the painter. His wife Emily died leaving a number of small children. A few years later he was in Philadelphia, marrying Sarah Ann Letts.

Father:

Thomas Charles Millington

Mother:

Ruth Hill

Wife:

Sarah Ann Letts

Wife:

Emily Hamilton

References

• John Millington, 1779-1868: Distinguished Pupil of Michael Faraday and Humphry Davy and Others During 100 Years of the University of Mississippi