Micklem was born in Brondesbury. His father, also Nathaniel Micklem, was a barrister who later became a Liberal Party Member of Parliament. He grew up in Boxmoor, Hertfordshire, and studied at Rugby School, New College, Oxford and Mansfield College, serving as President of the Oxford Union.
New College.
In 1914, he was ordained as a Congregationalist minister, serving at Highbury Chapel, then briefly in Wythenshawe, from which he was removed due to his opposition to World War I.
Micklem then worked for the Young Men’s Christian Association in Dieppe before becoming the chaplain of Mansfield College. In 1921, he began teaching the Old Testament at Selly Oak Colleges and also started writing on the topic. He moved to Kingston, Ontario in 1927, to teach the New Testament at the Queen"s Theological College, who made him an honorary Doctor of Divinity.
He returned to Mansfield College in 1932, serving for a year as vice-principal, then until 1953 as principal of the college.
In the late 1930s, he visited Germany twice, bringing back literature from the German Confessing Church. In contrast to the First World War, Micklem strongly supported World World War World War II Micklem served as chairman of the Congregational Union in 1944.
He retired in 1953, but became more politically active, and served as Chairman of the Liberal Party in 1957/8. Within the party, he championed the free market.
