Thomas Milvain

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Thomas Milvain

| honorific_suffix = KC CB

| image = Thomas_Milvain.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Milvain in 1901

| office = Judge Advocate General

| term_start = 31 October 1905

| term_end = 7 October 1916

| predecessor = Sir Francis Jeune

| successor = Sir Felix Cassel

| constituency_MP2 = Durham

| parliament2 = United Kingdom

| term_start2 = 1885

| term_end2 = 1892

| predecessor2 = Thomas Charles Thompson
Farrer Herschell

| successor2 = Matthew Fowler

| prior_term =

| constituency_MP3 = Hampstead

| parliament3 = United Kingdom

| term_start3 = 1902

| term_end3 = 1905

| predecessor3 = Edward Brodie Hoare

| successor3 = John Fletcher

| birth_date = 4 May 1844

| birth_place = Newcastle upon Tyne

| death_date = 23 September 1916 (aged 73)

| death_place = Alnwick, Northumberland

| nationality = British

| party = Conservative

| alma_mater = Trinity Hall, Cambridge

}}

Sir Thomas Milvain {{postnominals|country=GBR|KC}} {{postnominals|country=GBR|CB}} (4 May 1844 – 13 September 1916) was an English lawyer and Conservative Party politician.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YE8LrmCx9rMC&q=thomas+milvain|title=Who's Who 1910: An Annual Biographical Dictionary|publisher=A. & C. Black|year=1910|location=London|pages=1356|language=en|oclc=866511400}}

Background and career

Milvain was the son of Henry Milvain of North Elswick Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne and his wife Jane Davidson, and was educated at Durham School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge,{{acad|id=MLVN863T|name=Milvain, Thomas}} where he graduated with an LL.B. in 1866 and LL.M. in 1872.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Election intelligence - Hampstead|date=25 January 1902 |page=12 |issue=36674}} He was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1869,[https://archive.org/stream/debrettshouseo1886londuoft Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886] and practiced on the North-Eastern Circuit.

In 1885 Milvain was elected Member of Parliament for Durham. He took silk in 1888, and after losing his parliament seat in 1892 was appointed Recorder of Bradford and Chancellor of the County Palatine of Durham. The following year, he was appointed a Bencher at Middle Temple.

He stood unsuccessfully in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in 1895, and in Maidstone at a by-election in 1901. The same year, he served as Chairman of the South African Compensation Commission. He was then elected MP for Hampstead at a by-election in January 1902.{{London Gazette | issue=27401 | date=28 January 1902 |page=581}}

Milvain gave up the seat in 1905 when he was appointed Judge Advocate General, a position that he held until his death in 1916.{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Judge-Advocate-General |volume=15 |page=538}} He was succeeded by Felix Cassel who had served as his deputy.{{Cite book|last=Emsley|first=Clive|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-nlpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|title=Soldier, Sailor, Beggarman, Thief: Crime and the British Armed Services since 1914|date=2013-01-24|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-164703-1|language=en}} In 1912, Milvain was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath and was knighted.{{Cite news|date=30 September 1916|title=Obituary|work=The Law Journal|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/lwjrnal51&collection=journals&id=479&startid=&endid=488}}

Personal life

Milvain was an athletics blue in hurdles and won the National Championship over 120 yards hurdles at the 1866 AAC Championships.{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/AAA110H.htm|title=WAAA and National Championships Medallists|website=NUTS}}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000355/18660324/082/0008 |title=Amateur Athletic Club |work=Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle |date=24 March 1866 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=19 July 2024}}

He married Mary Alice Henderson on 28 January 1875, daughter of John Henderson, and they had one son, Colonel Henry Roland Milvain (1880-1960).{{Cite news|date=24 August 1960|title=Death of Former M.F.H and Cricketer|work=Teessale Mercury|url=http://teesdalemercuryarchive.org/pdf/1960/August-24/August-24-1960-01.pdf}}{{Cite journal|title=Watson family of Barnard Castle|url=http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/article/11111?SearchType=Param&Variations=N&Keywords=school&ImagesOnly=N&ByRelevancy=Yes&Display=50&Page=3&ItemID=965737|website=Durham County Record Office|date = 15 December 2016}} He died at his house, Eglingham Hall, Alnwick, Northumberland on 23 September 1916 (aged 73).