Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/188

 ‘Ophelia,’ ‘The Vale of Rest,’ ‘The Knight Errant,’ ‘The North-West Passage,’ ‘Mercy,’ ‘St. Bartholomew's Day, 1572,’ ‘Saint Stephen,’ ‘A Disciple,’ ‘Speak! Speak!,’ ‘The Order of Release, 1746,’ and ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh.’ Victoria and Albert Museum: ‘Pizarro seizing the Inca of Peru’ and ‘Lord Lytton.’ The National Portrait Gallery: ‘Lord Beaconsfield,’ ‘Thomas Carlyle,’ ‘Wilkie Collins,’ and ‘Leech.’ Oxford University Gallery: ‘The Return of the Dove’ and ‘Portrait of Thomas Combe.’ Manchester Corporation Gallery: ‘Autumn Leaves,’ ‘A Flood,’ ‘Victory, O Lord,’ ‘Winter Fuel,’ and ‘Bishop Fraser.’ Birmingham Art Gallery: ‘The Huguenot’ (1856), ‘The Widow's Mite,’ and ‘The Blind Girl.’ Holloway College: ‘Princes in the Tower’ and ‘Princess Elizabeth.’ Liverpool Art Gallery: ‘Isabella,’ ‘The First Minuet,’ and ‘The Martyr of the Solway.’ St. Bartholomew's Hospital: ‘Sir James Paget’ and ‘Luther Holden.’ University of London: ‘George Grote.’ British and Foreign Bible Society: ‘Lord Shaftesbury.’ University of Glasgow: ‘Dr. Caird.’ Corporation of Oldham: ‘T. O. Barlow, R.A.’



MILLIGAN, WILLIAM (1821–1893), Scottish divine, was born at Edinburgh on 15 March 1821, the eldest of seven children of the Rev. George Milligan and his wife, Janet Fraser. His father, a licentiate of the church of Scotland, was then engaged in teaching at Edinburgh, and Milligan was sent to the high school, where he was dux of his class. In 1832, when his father became minister of the Fifeshire parish of Elie, he was transferred to the neighbouring parish school of Kilconquhar, and thence proceeded in 1835 to the university of St. Andrews. Though only fourteen years of age, he earned from that day, by private teaching, as much as paid his class-fees, much to his parents' relief, for Elie was a 'small living.' Graduating M.A. in 1839, and devoting himself to the ministry, he took his divinity course partly at St. Andrews and partly at Edinburgh, and for a time he was tutor to the sons of Sir George Suttie of Prestongrange. During the disruption controversy of 1843 Milligan adhered to the church of Scotland. He wrote to his father that he was resolved to 'remain in &hellip; and lend any aid he could to those who are ready to unite in building up, on principles agreeable to the word of God, the old church of Scotland.' He was at this time assistant to Robert Swan, minister at Abercrombie; next year he was presented to the Fifeshire parish of Cameron and ordained.

In 1845 his health gave cause for anxiety, and he obtained a leave of absence for a year, which he spent in Germany, studying at Halle. He made the acquaintance, among others, of Neander, in whom he found a kindred spirit. Promoted in 1850 to the more important parish of Kilconquhar, he married, in 1859, Annie Mary, the daughter of [q. v.]; and in 1860 he was appointed first professor of biblical criticism in the university of Aberdeen. He worked hard; but his liberal politics and mild broad-church views were not congenial to many of his colleagues, and his amiability concealed from his students the real strength of his character. Nevertheless his power and influence grew, and in 1870 he joined the company formed for the revision of the English New Testament. From that time onward he was a prolific writer. His style, prolix at first, became pure and graceful, and in such works as those on the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ and on the Revelation of St. John he took a foremost place among British theologians. In the church courts, too, his rise was steady. In 1872 he was sent, together with the Rev. J. Marshall Lang (now Principal Lang) as a representative from the general assembly of the church of Scotland to the assembly of the presbyterian church in the United States; in 1875 he was elected depute-clerk of the general assembly; and in 1886 he succeeded Principal [q. v.] as principal clerk.

Already in 1882, partly in recognition of his work as a New Testament reviser, he had been elevated to the moderator's chair. His address on the occasion was notable for its declaration that, in any scheme for church reunion in Scotland, the Scottish episcopalians must be considered; while its enunciation of doctrine concerning the church called forth the warm approval of [q. v.], who wrote and