Background
Robert Milligan was born at Dunnance, Kirkcudbright, Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland on 10 October 1786 to John Milligan (1740 - 1819) of Dunnance, Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland.
Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Robert Milligan was born at Dunnance, Kirkcudbright, Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland on 10 October 1786 to John Milligan (1740 - 1819) of Dunnance, Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland.
The couple had five children of which Robert was the second child. Robert Milligan moved to Cross Hills in Craven in about 1802 as a "Travelling Scotchman" working as a door to door salesman. Robert married Phoebe Briggs (1796-1868) at Guiseley in 1818.
They had no children but adopted Susan (1813-1886) daughter of Robert"s brother, John jnr.
By 1810 he had opened a drapers shop in Westgate, Bradford eventually becoming a buyer for Leo Schuster & Company of Manchester and through that job met Henry Forbes (1790-1870). Together they formed Milligan, Forbes & Company, Stuff Merchants that became synonymous with the stuff trade of Bradford and housed in an impressive new premises on Hall Ings, Bradford in 1853.
The Milligan and Forbes Warehouse, now considered Bradford"s first palazzo, has been the headquarters of the Telegraph and Argus since the 1920s. By 1847, Robert Milligan"s esteem had risen enough for him to become the town"s first mayor and chairman of the new borough magistrates.
He was later Liberal Member of Parliament for the borough in three successive Parliaments from 1851 - 1857.
Of a strongly liberal position, Milligan was sympathetic to the Chartists who were active in Bradford during his tenure as Member of Parliament and held strong views on parliamentary reform and the emancipation of West Indian slaves. Milligan died at his Acacia estate in Rawdon on 1 July 1862. The flattering description reads:
"First Mayor of Bradford on 1847 and Member of Parliament. Erected palazzo style worsted warehouse.
Funeral cortege was headed by representatives of Bradford Corporation, Board of Guardians and JPs.
Then friends, policemen and the undertaker. Then employees. Then the hearse drawn by six black plumed horses.
Then gentlemen in private carriages.".
15th United Kingdom Parliament. 16th United Kingdom Parliament]
He was elected unopposed as Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Bradford in West Yorkshire at a by-election in October 1851, and held the seat until the 1857 general election. He is buried under an impressive 20 feet (61 m) pillar in Undercliffe Cemetery, whose very existence is at least partly due to Milligan as a member of The Bradford Cemetery Company.
Then four coaches containing the male members of the family.
