Horatio Ray Milner, CC

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

, QC

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 (27 March 1889 – 24 May 1975) was a lawyer and businessman.

Milner was born in Sackville, New Brunswick

Sackville, New Brunswick

Sackville is a Canadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Mount Allison University is located in the town...

, the son of lawyer, newspaper publisher and historian William Cochrane Milner. His higher education was at Halifax, Nova Scotia

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

 where he graduated from Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...

 law school in 1911, following his 1909 graduation from King's College

University of King's College

The University of King's College is a post-secondary institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. King's is a small liberal arts university offering mainly undergraduate programs....

. He would return to Kings as Chancellor between 1957 to 1963.

In 1912, he was a founding partner of the Edmonton, Alberta legal firm of Milner and Steer. He would be called to military service in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, after which he was appointed King's Counsel (later, Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 upon the 1952 accession of Queen Elizabeth).

He become associated with various utilities and natural gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 companies in Alberta, and was a founding director of Canadian Utilities

Canadian Utilities

Canadian Utilities Limited is a member of the ATCO Group of companies. Canadian Utilities Limited is a Canada-based worldwide organization of companies with assets of approximately $7.3 billion and more than 6,500 employees, actively engaged in three main business divisions: Power Generation,...

.

He was married twice, first to Catherine "Rina" Bury (d. 1952), and second, in 1954, to Veronica Villiers Fitzgerald (d. 1998). Milner died in Qualicum, British Columbia

Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

Qualicum Beach is a town in the Regional District of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2006 census, the town had 8,502 people.On the Strait of Georgia on the north-eastern coast of Vancouver Island in the shadow of Mount Arrowsmith, the community has been a popular tourist destination,...

, aged 86.

Milner and his second wife maintained a garden estate on British Columbia's Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

 which was made a gift to Malaspina University-College

Malaspina University-College

Vancouver Island University is a comprehensive, four-year, postsecondary institution serving Vancouver Island and coastal British Columbia. Established in 1969 as Malaspina College, it has grown into an institution that plays an important role in the educational, cultural, and economic life of the...

 in 1996. The university now runs it as the publicly accessible Milner Gardens.

The H. R. Milner Generating Station

H. R. Milner Generating Station

H. R. Milner Generating Station is a coal fired station owned by Milner Power Inc., located near Grande Cache, Alberta, Canada. Fuel is provided by the nearby coal mine. The plant was first build by Canadian Utilities; then owned by ATCO Power from 2000-2004. The plant is named after H. R. Milner...

 near Grande Cache, Alberta

Grande Cache, Alberta

Grande Cache is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada, located northwest of Hinton and west of Edmonton. It is located in the Municipal District of Greenview, between Highway 40 and the Smoky River, at the northern border of Alberta's Rockies...

was named in his honour upon its dedication in 1972. Edmonton's Milner Building at 10040 104th Street, completed in 1958, was also named for him.

Mr. Milner was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1969, the year he retired.