Daniel Miller (1825–1888) was a 19th-century Scottish civil engineer and inventor remembered as a harbour and bridge-builder.
Life

He was born on 9 January 1825 the son of Isabella Paul and Stephen Miller, a coppersmith and brassfounder, living and working at 48 Saracens Lane in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...
. The premises was taken over by Walter Macfarlane in 1850 and became world famous as the
Saracen Foundry
The Saracen Foundry, Possilpark, Glasgow c.1890
The Saracen Foundry was the better-known name for the Possilpark, Glasgow–based foundry company W MacFarlane & Co. Ltd, founded and owned by Walter MacFarlane. MacFarlane's was the most importa ...
.
Daniel was apprenticed to Gordon & Hill and here he met Robert Bruce Bell (1823-1883) with whom he later went into partnership.
In 1850 he was working without Hill at 13 Robertson Street as Daniel Miller & Co.
Around 1855 he teamed with Robert Bruce Bell with offices at 32 St Vincent Street. By 1860 they are listed as Bell & Miller with Miller then living at 4 Bothwell Street. They were the official engineers to the Clyde Navigation Trust and the Glasgow Bridges Trust.
He died on 28 September 1888 at "Craigburn" on Albert Road in
Gourock
Gourock ( ; gd, Guireag ) is a town in the Inverclyde council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its main function today is ...
. He is buried in
Craigton Cemetery in south-west Glasgow.
[
Although both partners were dead, the practice of Bell & Miller continued until the 1890s.
]
Principal Works
*New slip dock with patented hydraulic purchase machinery at Kelvinhaugh for shipbuilder, Robert Black (1849)
*New iron roof over Candleriggs
Candleriggs is a street in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is located in the Merchant City area of the city centre.
Candleriggs was historically the area of the old city of Glasgow where candlemakers plied their trade, at a safe distance f ...
City Hall and Bazaar (1852)
*Graving dock for Tod & McGregor at Meadowside Shipyard in Partick
Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to t ...
(1856)Tod and McGregor
Grace's Guide. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
*Albert Harbour,
Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...
(1863)
*Princes Pier,
Greenock
Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of ...
(1864)
*Improvements at
Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow ( gd, Port Ghlaschu, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most rece ...
(c.1865)
* no.1 (c.1865)
*Albert Bridge,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...
(1868)
*Improvements to
Cadiz harbour (c.1870)
*Improvements to
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...
Harbour (1871)
*Improvements to
Cobh
Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...
Harbour at Cork (1872)
*Portland Street Suspension Bridge in Glasgow (1872)
*Harbour at
Williamstown, Melbourne
Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Williamstown recorded a population of 14,407 at the 2021 census.
...
(c.1875)
*
Partick
Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to t ...
Bridge over the
River Kelvin
The River Kelvin (Scottish Gaelic: ''Abhainn Cheilbhinn'') is a tributary of the River Clyde in northern and northeastern Glasgow, Scotland. It rises on the moor south east of the village of Banton, east of Kilsyth. At almost long, it init ...
(1876)
*Harbour at
Cronstadt
Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...
(c.1880)
*Improvements to harbour at
Buenes Aires (c.1880)
*Deep water docks at
Dagenham
Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross.
It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...
(off the Thames estuary) (c.1880)
*Graving dock at
Lyttelton Harbour
Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō is one of two major inlets in Banks Peninsula, on the coast of Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury, New Zealand; the other is Akaroa Harbour on the southern coast. It enters from the northern coast of the pen ...
in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
(1882)
*The Albert Exhibition Palace,
Battersea
Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park.
History
Batte ...
in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(1883)
*The
Great Western Road Bridge over the
River Kelvin
The River Kelvin (Scottish Gaelic: ''Abhainn Cheilbhinn'') is a tributary of the River Clyde in northern and northeastern Glasgow, Scotland. It rises on the moor south east of the village of Banton, east of Kilsyth. At almost long, it init ...
(1887)
They also did harbour works in
Alexandria, Egypt
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
and on the Baltic coast in
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ...
.
They engineered water supply schemes for
Grangemouth
Grangemouth ( sco, Grangemooth; gd, Inbhir Ghrainnse, ) is a town in the Falkirk council area, Scotland. Historically part of the county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firth of Forth, east of Falkirk ...
and for
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio ...
and
Pelotas
Pelotas () is a Brazilian city and municipality (''município''), the third most populous in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located 270 km (168 mi) from Porto Alegre, the state's capital city, and 130 km (80.8&n ...
in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Daniel (engineer)
1825 births
1888 deaths
Engineers from Glasgow
Scottish civil engineers
Harbour engineers