Joseph Miller (priest)

His father was Saul Miller (1841–1902) who was born in Leesrigg, Cumbria and died in Wigton. He was a farmer of 273 acres, employing five men and one woman. His mother was Betty "Jane" Timperon (1846–1895), born in Keswick. They were married at Wigton in 1870. Joseph was born in Leesrigg or Allhallows, Cumbria, the second of five children, in 1874.{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=Ir9aixPFGMQmGkMNubR%2FOg&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=17 October 2016|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} Deaths Mar 1895 Miller Jane 48 Wigton vol. 10b p. 397{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=SDq%2FV%2BbX4FsnSjWtxR5Qrg&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=17 October 2016|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} Deaths Mar 1902 Miller Saul 60 Wigton vol. 10b p. 396{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=AZHfxdDyzm93zFKEBorLQA&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=17 October 2016|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} Births Sep 1845 Timperon Betty Wigton vol. XXV p. 171{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=%2F3sEgFYnWeZ5FEt1bgZ2gg&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=17 October 2016|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} Marriages Jun 1870, Timperon Jane and Miller Saul, Wigton vol. 10b p. 791{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=jYXsHXrt9WcR730k3JNCLQ&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=10 October 2016|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} Births Jun 1874 Miller Joseph Wigton vol. 10b p. 544United Kingdom Census 1881 RG11/5167 p. 18. Blennerhassett, WigtonUnited Kingdom Census 1891 RG12/4297/102 p. 7. Bromfield, Wigton He was descended from a long line of Anglicans. Miller said that "one of his uncles offered to send him to Oxford or Cambridge in order to prepare for the Anglican ministry." However he graduated from Nottingham Paton College, a dissenting academy, in 1900. In 1901 he was a boarder at Kirton House, Spalding Road, Kirton, Lincolnshire, and a student Congregationalist pastor at age 26.United Kingdom Census 1901 RG13/3040/61 p. 21 Kirton, Lincolnshire He married Lily Hemsley (born Newcastle 1875) in Nottingham in 1908.{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=0vaDj9%2BHAALerQF%2B6uZ%2BrA&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=10 October 2016|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}} Marriages Mar 1908 MILLER Joseph, Lily Hemsley, Nottingham vol. 7b p. 575

He was minister at the Congregational Church, Regent Street, Oldham 1904–1908.[https://www.instantstreetview.com/@53.543401,-2.104598,240.69h,14.24p,0.58z Street View: view of former Congregational Church, Regent Street, Oldham, Lancashire, England] disused as of 2016 He was minister at Bethesda Church, Runcorn, 1908–1911,[https://www.achurchnearyou.com/bethesda-shared-church/ Church of England: Bethesda Church, Runcorn] The origin church in Old Town, Runcorn, was demolished in the 1970s to make way for the Bus Station. living with his wife at the eight-room Manse.United Kingdom Census 1911: The Manse, Norman Road, Runcorn, Cheshire He had just been appointed Minister of Spittal Congregational Church 1911–1912,[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000470/19361110/199/0008 Berwickshire News and General Advertiser, Tuesday 10 November 1936 p. 8: "25 years ago"] when in 1911 he "received and accepted a unanimous call" to officiate in Hamburg.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000470/19371102/217/0008 Berwickshire News and General Advertiser, Tuesday 02 November 1937 p. 8: "25 years ago"]He was possibly invited to do this by the London Missionary Society

He was Minister of the English Reformed Church,[http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/118/16214.htm London Metropolitan Archives: GB 0074 CLC/188 English Reformed Church, Hamburg.] Built 1818, destroyed in World War II also described as the Congregational church, in Hamburg 1912–1914. World War I compelled him to leave. The Morpeth Herald claimed that he had completed four years there. In Hamburg he "rendered valuable assistance to his countrymen in distress." The church was closed, and he and his wife were asked by the American Consulate to work among the refugees in Hamburg. He was made treasurer of the British Emergency Relief Fund for Refugees. Alien men between 17 and 55 years old were interned, but doctors and clergy were permitted and advised to return home.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19341126/161/0005 Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Monday 26 November 1934 p. 5: "Farnley Tyas living accepted by Chaplain of Stainborough"]

File:Cleckheaton Westgate Congregational Church 1876.jpg

From May 1915 to 1922 he was the pastor of the Congregational Church, Morpeth, Northumberland. At his induction on 26 May 1915 there was "much rejoicing" due to his reputation as an "eloquent preacher and an earnest and energetic worker."[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000344/19150528/262/0008 Morpeth Herald, Friday 28 May 1915: "Morpeth congregationalists"] On 8 August and 24 October 1915 the Morpeth Herald records that he preached morning and evening there.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000344/19150806/021/0001 Morpeth Herald, Friday 06 August 1915 p. 1: "Church services, 10th Sunday after Trinity, August 8th"][http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000344/19151022/023/0001 Morpeth Herald, Friday 22 October 1915: "Church services 24th Sunday after Trinity, October 24th"] Sunday 13 May 1917 was the Pastor's Anniversary at the same church, where Miller preached morning and afternoon that day, with "special music" from the choir.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000344/19170511/083/0004 Morpeth Herald, Friday 11 May 1917: "Morpeth Congregational Church, Dacre Street, Pastor;s anniversary"] On Whit Monday, 28 May 1917, he addressed a public meeting along with two other clerics at the Primitive Methodist Church, Howard Terrace, Morpeth.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000344/19170525/090/0004 Morpeth Herald, Friday 25 May 1917: "Primitive Methodist Church, Howard Terrace, Morpeth, the anniversary services"]The church building still exists as [https://www.morpethmeth.org/ Morpeth Methodist Church (1905) designed by J. Walton Taylor of Newcastle] On Friday 17 July 1917 at Morpeth Town Hall, he gave a "limelight lecture" on the subject of food economy, under the auspices of the Food Control Campaign.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000344/19170713/085/0004 Morpeth Herald, Friday 13 July 1917 p. 4: "Food economy"] On Friday 23 April 1920, Miller proposed a toast and gave a speech about Shakespeare, "far greater than England, far greater than empire", at the mayor's dinner during the St George's Day celebrations at the Earl Grey Hotel, Morpeth.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000344/19200430/091/0004 Morpeth Herald, Friday 30 April 1920 p. 4: "World wide dramatist"]

He was nonconformist pastor of Cleckheaton Westgate Congregational Church 1922–1929. On 4 November 1928 he preached in the morning and evening at the congregational Church in Ashbourne Road, Derby.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000327/19281103/138/0006 Derby Daily Telegraph, Saturday 03 November 1928 p. 6: "Derby congregational churches"]

File:Rev J Miller 1925.JPG

In 1925, while pastor at Cleckheaton, he published a small volume of sermons, entitled The Collapse of Christianity.{{sfn|Miller|1925|p=}} The title of the book is the title of the first sermon. The United Methodist review said that:

"These discourses have nothing sensational about them, but bear the stamp of a mind clear in thought, firm in conviction, and possessing the power of infusing its own glowing warmth into the lives of others ...The book ... contains a sermon on "The Work That Counts," which has pleased the writer of these lines greatly ... The fact is, this preacher has a progressive mind with a modern outlook."[https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:15m925&datastreamId=FULL-TEXT.PDF The United Methodist 20 August 1925 p. 414: "Reviews"]

The Berwickshire News and General Advertiser said that:

"The series of sermons are marked by the work of the careful student and thinker. The optimistic note sounded in the opening sermon is refreshing ... The author's sound arguments ...admirably calculated to build up and establish in the truth ... Mr Miller is well remembered locally where his many sterling qualities, while pastor of Spittal Church, endeared him to a much wider circle of friends than those which comprised his flock."[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000470/19250616/118/0004 Berwickshire News and General Advertiser – Tuesday 16 June 1925 p. 4: "Former Spittal Minister's book"]

By his announcement on 6 January 1929,[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000321/19290107/008/0001 Nottingham Evening Post, Monday 07 January 1929: "Minister's change, leaving Congregationalism for Church of England"] he "created a sensation in nonconformist Spen Valley by going over to the Church of England." On 29 February he began a short training course at Cuddesdon College, Oxford which he completed in 1929. In the same year he was ordained as an Anglican deacon and priest by the Bishop of Wakefield.Crockford's Clerical Directory (1932), Oxford He was vicar of the Church of St Mark, Old Leeds Road, Huddersfield, and its parish 1929–1931, in association with the vicar of Huddersfield Parish Church, where he was at the same time senior curate.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000748/19290227/146/0007 Leeds Mercury, Wednesday 27 February 1929 p. 7: "Yorkshire pastor and the Church"]

He was chaplain or vicar of St James Stainborough, Barnsley, from August 1931 to November 1934, with a parish population of 500. On 5 August 1934 he chaired the 44th open-air music festival on the local cricket ground, in aid of the Beckett Hospital, Barnsley.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001465/19340806/145/0005 Sheffield Independent, Monday 06 August 1934 p. 5: "Stainborough festival"]

On 7 October 1934 he was offered the living of St Andrew's, Wakefield by the Bishop of Wakefield but did not accept it. In November of the same year he was offered the living of St Lucius, Farnley Tyas, Huddersfield, by the bishop.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19341008/105/0004 Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Monday 08 October 1934 p. 4: "Today's services"][http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001465/19341126/178/0005 Sheffield Independent, Monday 26 November 1934 p. 5: "Leaving Stainborough"][http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000273/19341126/241/0011 Yorkshire Evening Post, Monday 26 November 1934 p. 11: "Going to Huddersfield"] He remained there until at least 1939. On Thursday 28 May 1936 he was visiting Stainborough in officiate at the dedication of a new organ.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19360529/299/0006 Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Friday 29 May 1936 p. 6: "Stainborough's new organ"] On Wednesday 5 July 1939 he officiated at the funeral at Farnley Tyas of retired magistrate and brewer Thomas Edward Dickinson who was mourned by numerous businessmen, magistrates, freemasons and councillors. Dickinson had been one of Miller's churchwardens.[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19390706/216/0005 Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Thursday 06 July 1939 p. 5: "Mr T.E. Dickinson"][http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19390704/191/0006 Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Tuesday 04 July 1939 p. 6: "Mr T.E. Dickinson, member of the West Riding bench"] Miller was about 65 years old in 1939; the date of his death is unknown.

St Mark Leeds Road 0821.JPG|Sculpture on St Mark's, Huddersfield

St James's Church, Stainborough - geograph.org.uk - 1501969.jpg|St James, Stainborough

St Lucius' Church, Farnley Tyas - geograph.org.uk - 1466051.jpg|St Lucius, Farnley Tyas

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{{Commons category|Clergy at St Marks Old Leeds Road}}

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Category:1874 births

Category:People from Cumberland

Category:20th-century Congregationalist ministers

Category:20th-century English Anglican priests

Category:20th-century British writers

Category:Date of death unknown

Category:British Congregationalist ministers

Category:British religious writers

Category:20th-century British male writers