Sir John Riggs-Miller, 1st Baronet (''c.'' 1744 – 28 May 1798) was an
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
politician who championed reform of the customary system of
weights and measures
A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multip ...
in favour of a scientifically founded system.
Early life
He was born John Miller in
County Clare
County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...
, Ireland. His father was John Miller and his mother, John's wife, Anne ''née'' Browne. He was educated at
Dalston School and
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
before joining the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
in 1760 as a
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
. He was on active service in the
Battle of Emsdorf
The Battle of Emsdorf was fought on 16 July 1760 during the Seven Years' War at Emsdorf in present-day Hesse, Germany, between forces of British, Hanoverian and Hessian troops under the Prince of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) against German tro ...
and at
Belleisle, France in 1761, before retiring from the army in 1763. He was admitted to study at the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
in 1765, though does not seem to have made any progress with his legal studies. He also studied at
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...
, though he did not graduate. In August 1765 he married
Anna
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
* Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773)
* Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century)
* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221)
...
''née'' Riggs (1741–1781), adding her name to his own. They had a son and a daughter.
In July 1762 he inherited his family estates;
they were worth little,
but his wife brought substantial wealth to the marriage, enabling him to build a prestigious house at
Batheaston
Batheaston is a village and civil parish east of the English city of Bath, on the north bank of the River Avon. The parish had a population of 2,735 in 2011. The northern area of the parish, on the road to St Catherine, is an area known as N ...
, Somerset.
The couple there held a fortnightly
literary
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
along with competitions and prizes. The prizes were drawn from an ornately decorated
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
vase
A vase ( or ) is an open container. It can be made from a number of materials, such as ceramics, glass, non-rusting metals, such as aluminium, brass, bronze, or stainless steel. Even wood has been used to make vases, either by using tree species ...
and the affair was mocked as ''Lady Miller's Vase'', though that did not dissuade distinguished contributions from the like of
David Garrick
David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...
and
Christopher Anstey
Christopher Anstey (31 October 1724 – 3 August 1805) was an English poet who also wrote in Latin. After a period managing his family's estates, he moved permanently to Bath and died after a long public life there. His poem, ''The New Bath Gui ...
. In 1778 he was created a Baronet, of Ballicasey in the County of Clare.
Anna died on 24 June 1781; on 9 September 1795 he married Jane ''née'' Sell, widow of
Sir Thomas Davenport. He was elected Member of Parliament for
Newport, Cornwall in
1784.
Weights and measures
He made a careful study of the contemporary state of weights and measures before proposing reform in the
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...
on 5 February 1790.
In France,
Charles Maurice Talleyrand was pursuing similar goals with a
unit of length
A unit of length refers to any arbitrarily chosen and accepted reference standard for measurement of length. The most common units in modern use are the metric units, used in every country globally. In the United States the U.S. customary units ...
based on the
seconds pendulum
A seconds pendulum is a pendulum whose period is precisely two seconds; one second for a swing in one direction and one second for the return swing, a frequency of 0.5 Hz.
Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that ...
, as was
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
in the US having been charged by President
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
with measurement reform. Talleyrand had ambitions that France would establish itself at the centre of a new international measurement system that would form the basis of global trade and, on hearing of Riggs-Miller's initiative, proposed a tripartite collaboration. After some diplomatic manoeuvring by Talleyrand, the definitive pendulum measurement was agreed to take place in France.
However, France's official approach for collaboration was then rejected by
Foreign Secretary
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
the
Duke of Leeds
Duke of Leeds was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1694 for the prominent statesman Thomas Osborne, 1st Marquess of Carmarthen, who had been one of the Immortal Seven in the Revolution of 1688. He had already succeeded as ...
. Riggs-Miller continued to campaign on the matter but, when parliament was dissolved in 1790, he was not re-elected.
Ultimately, in 1791, the French
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
vetoed the pendulum in favour of the
meridional definition of the metre, bringing an effective end to hopes of collaboration.
France unilaterally adopted the
metric system
The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the Decimal, decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in French Revolution, France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the d ...
in 1793.
After parliament
After parliament, Riggs-Miller settled in
Bloomsbury Square
Bloomsbury Square is a garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, Be ...
, London. He allegedly became known in society as an inveterate gossip and newsmonger, and was a well-known figure in many
gentlemen's clubs. He died suddenly and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son by his first marriage,
John Edward Augustus Miller (1770–1825).
[ and ] Riggs-Miller was buried in
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, it was reorganised in the 10th ...
.
Notes
References
*
* ()
*
*
;Attribution
* The entry cites:
**Allibone, ii. 1286;
**Miss Seward's preface to her Poem in Memory of Lady Miller;
**Collinson's Somerset, i. 103;
**Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. v. 495
Further reading
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riggs-Miller, John, 1st Baronet
1744 births
1798 deaths
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall
British MPs 1784–1790
People educated at Eton College
Politicians from County Clare
Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland