Milnes RM

NAME: Milnes, Richard Monkton

ACHIEVEMENTS:  Political reformer and famous literary figure

NICKNAME/ALIAS:  Lord Houghton

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: June 19, 1809, London, England

DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH /AGE AT DEATH:  August, 11,1885, Vichy, France. Aged 76

DISCIPLINE:  Writer

FIELD:  Literature

LANGUAGE:  English

PARENTS:  Robert Pemberton Milnes; the Hon. Henrietta Maria Monckton

SIBLINGS:  Unknown

SPOUSE: Hon. Annabel Crewe

CHILDREN: 1 son 2 daughters

EDUCATION:  Hundhill Hall, Doncaster, Yorkshire; Trinity College,

Cambridge; University College, London; University of Bonn

MAJOR WORK   None

LIFE AND TIMES:

Among Milnes’ friends at Cambridge were poet <college pal of> Tennyson* and novelist  <college pal of> Thackeray*.   He was sociable and popular and a frequent speaker in the Union Debating Society.

Milnes also was interested in writing and while at University sent reviews and poems to the "Athenaeum" magazine. After Cambridge, he studied in London at University  College before transferring to the University of Bonn.  On a visit to Florence, he met poet

Walter Savage Landor.  He visited Greece and wrote a volume about the tour, published in 1834. 

In 1835, he returned to England, settled in London, and quickly became part of the fashionable literary set. In 1836, he helped Lord Northampton put together a Christmas annual called "The Tribute". He solicited literary contributions from friends, including Tennyson, who sent him poems that later were incorporated into one of his major works, "Maud".

In 1837 he entered politics as Conservative Member of Parliament.   He published two books of poetry in 1838 and another in 1840.   He wrote on the works of  Emerson for the "Westminster Review" and continued to travel. In 1840, in Paris, he met <met> Lamartine*, Alexis de Tocqueville and King  Louis-Philippe. When <knew> Peel* was in power in 1841, Milnes hoped his interest in foreign affairs would result in office, but he was not asked to serve. He supported the Anglo-Catholic revival and in 1841 published a pamphlet "One Tract More, by a layman" which attracted the favorable attention of <approved by> Newman*.

In 1842,  he traveled to Egypt and the Middle East and published travel articles  in "Palm Leaves". He had a reputation for helping friends, and he joined a lobby to get a pension from the civil list for Tennyson.  He worked for the Royal Literary Fund, which helped authors. 

In 1848, he collated material on poet <produced edition of> Keats*, and published a memoir, "Life and Letters of the Poet", which was used in an abbreviated form as a preface to an edition of Keats's poem that Milnes published in 1854.

In 1848 Milnes travelled to Paris to get a first-hand  impression of the Revolution.  Upon his return, he wrote a pamphlet sympathizing with the liberal ideas being promoted on the continent, and voicing his support for the Italian struggle against occupying Austria. 

Milnes now occupied himself with literary work, revising Gladstone's translation of  Farini's "History of the Roman State". 

In 1853, together with the Belgian minister in London, M. Van de Weyer, Milnes set up the Philobiblon Society that established a point of contact for those in England and other countries who had an interest in rare books and manuscripts.  Milnes acted as editor of the Society's "Transactions".

In 1855, during the war in the Crimea, he spoke at meetings on behalf of <supported> Nightingale*'s fund to provide hospital care for the forces.

At the Social Science Congress at Norwich, in 1857, he spoke in favor of setting up mechanics' institutes and penny banks.  He also helped find an audience for poet <promoted> Swinburne*.

Milnes was elevated to the House of Lords in July,1863 and took the title of Baron Houghton of Great Houghton in Yorkshire. He was one of the few peers who supported reform of the political franchise,  contributing to "Essays on Reform", in which he wrote on "The Admission of the Working Classes as a Part of the Social System".

In 1867 he visited Paris for a number of months and was president of the group of liberal arts at the French Exhibition. He was the representative for the Royal Geographical Society at the opening of  the <attended opening of> Suez Canal* in 1869, and afterwards presented a report to the Society.  In 1873, he published "Monographs", anecdotes of friends including Landor and Sydney Smith.  In 1875, at 66, he travelled in Canada and the United States. He met <met> Longfellow* and <met> Emerson*. 

Milnes was made an honorary fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge,  as well as secretary for foreign correspondence at the Royal Academy and a trustee of the British Museum.  In 1882, he became president of the London Library where he took over from <a pal of> Carlyle*,  another friend.  In 1885, he was involved in memorial ceremonies for the poet <arranged memorial service of> Coleridge*.

ASSESSMENT: Milnes was a literary dilettante who did many favors for those less fortunate than himself. 

EXTRA CONNECTIONS:  Influenced by philosopher <influenced by> Jeremy Bentham*. 

Knew <knew> Cobden* <knew>  LN Rothschild*, <knew> Bradlaugh*, <knew> Disraeli*, <knew> Smiles* , <knew> Birkbeck*, <knew> Macaulay*,  <knew> Turgenev*, <knew> Henry James* and <knew> Neilson*

Friend of <a pal of> Harte*  and <a pal of> Robert Browning*

He entertained <entertained> Sand*

ONELINER: R Monkton Milnes, Victorian British mover and shaker

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Dictionary of National Biography 1983