Former Pupil Biographies

John Alexander Stevenson Millar, MVO (1854 - 1938)
 

John Alexander Millar was born in 1854 in Paisley.  He married Dora Shillinglaw in 1878 in Edinburgh.  They had 3 sons and 3 daughters. He died in Edinburgh in 1938.

The 'Old Boys Chronicle' in the Madras College Magazine for New Year 1912 reported:

"Mr. J. A. S. Millar, W.S., who has been made a member of the Victorian Order, is a member of the firm of Messrs. Russell & Dunlop. W.S.  Born in 1854, he was educated at Madras College, St. Andrews, and Edinburgh University. He has been a member of the Kirk Session of St. Giles' Cathedral for the last twenty-eight years, and during that time has acted as general Treasurer of the Church and an Convener of the Parish Committee. He has taken considerable interest in church and philanthropic work in Edinburgh. Some years ago he was elected an Hon. Member of the Juridical Society of Edinburgh. He has acted as Secretary of the Managing Board of St. Giles' Cathedral since the year 1902, and as Hon. Secretary and legal adviser to the Trustees (the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord Rosebery, Lord Leven and Melville, and the Hon. Sir Schomberg McDonnell, G.C.V.O.), appointcd by His late Majesty King Edward for the erection of the Chapel of the Thistle since the creation of the Trust two and a half years ago. During that period Mr. Millar has undertaken a considerable amount of work and responsibility in connection with the erection of the Chapel, and with the carrying out of the elaborate arrangements connected with the ceremonial of Wednesday. Mr. Millar had the honour, along with the late Lord Kinross and the Very Rev. Dr. Cameron Lees, of receiving the late King Edward and Queen Alexandra at St. Giles' on the occasion of their Majesties' State visit to Edinburgh in the year 1903. The King, in presenting the Order, expressed to Mr. Millar his appreciation of the perfection of the whole arrangements connected with the inauguration ceremony, and of the beauty and impressiveness of the service."