John Guille Millais
Encyclopedia
John Guille Millais known as "Johnny" Millais, was an English artist, naturalist
, gardener and travel writer who specialised in wildlife and flower portraiture. He travelled extensively around the world in the late Victorian period detailing wildlife often for the first time. He is noted for illustrations that are of a particularly exact nature.
, the Pre-Raphaelite painter, and his wife Effie Gray
. He grew up in London and Perthshire
with a wide interest in natural history, which embraced horticulture,hunting including big game hunting and wildfowl. As a boy he made a collection of birds shot around the Perthshire coast of Scotland where he spent much of his childhood. This formed the basis of a lifetime collection of around 3,000 specimens that he later housed in a private museum in Horsham in West Sussex, England. Specimens from this collection were depicted by his father in his painting The Ruling Passion
(also known as The Ornithologist). John Guille himself painted a bird in his father's painting Dew-Drenched Furze.
, but after six years he resigned to travel the world. His was clearly a wanderlust based on a desire to see, record and paint the natural world. To this end he travelled widely in Europe, Africa and North America. In the New World in the 1880s/90s he explored Canada and Newfoundland
and helped map uncharted areas of Alaska
.
In 1903 he was a founder of the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire (SPWFE). Clearly a clubbable and convivial man in 1909 Millais was a founder member of the Shikar Club
a sportsclub where like-minded associates could dine and discuss their mutual passion for hunting especially big game hunting..Johnny Millais was passionate about hunting and fellow members included the famous hunters Frederick Selous
(the brother of ornithologist Edmund Selous
),the African game hunter Arthur Neumann, and the explorer and game hunter Frank Wallace
. The club still survives and includes the Duke of Edinburgh
amongst its members.
During World War I (1914–1918) whilst in his fifties he served in the secret service of the Royal Navy
in Norway and in Iceland. His autobiographical book Wanderings and Memories(1919) recounts that Johnny Millais was involved in counter-espionage , provided with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and was appointed British Vice-Counsul at Hammerfest
in northern Norway where he stayed until 1917. Millais recalled that in August 1915 he met with two German spies at Christiania
and with whom he travelled to Lofoten
. Johnny Millais was evidently engaged in setting up and supporting a network of counter espionage. The importance of Norway to the war effort was that the northern seas provided a route for food and materials to reach British ports. Millais reported back from Norway that whilst the Norwegian authorities were generally pro British much of the population were pro German.In December 1917 he came close to capture by the Germans but with the help of a harbour master he managed to get out of Norway, returning to Newcastle.
In the period immediately after the War J. G. Millais wrote and published a book on his life and hunting exploits in Africa and Scotland. Wanderings and Memories chronicled his passion for big game hunting and also his fondness for Scotland of his childhood. It also contains a chapter from Arthur Neumann, a famous elephant hunter of the day. This book went to several reprints including an American edition renamed A Sportsman's Wanderings.
In 1921 he travelled with his son Raoul Millais
to the southern Sudan
and mapped for the first time large areas of Bahr al Ghazal, an exploit which led to a book on the Upper Nile
Millais is one of the most respected of British ornithologists and bird artists producing between 1890 and 1914 a series of books on birds and other natural history subjects. In the study of ornithology he was renowned for his portraiture of wildfowl and game birds, the subjects of his three most famous works: Natural History of British Feeding Ducks; British Diving Ducks and British Game Birds.
They rank amongst some of the finest work on wildfowl ever published. Each bird receives individual treatment in text and detailed exact chromolithographs, some of which are by his friend and pre-eminent bird artist of the day Archibald Thorburn
(1860–1935). Each species is represented by two or three individuals on a plate drawn in attitudes of feeding, resting and courtship.
The books are lavish and with just 400 to 600 original editions published are now prized as examples of a certain type of High Victorian grandeur. Millais’ skills are essentially Victorian, as private wealth allowed him to indulge on a grand scale his passions. He was undoubtedly tenacious. His son Raoul Millais spoke of him as an "astonishing man and his power of concentration was such that once he took up a subject he never left it until he knew more about it than anyone in the World"
This tenacity to get a job done to the best of abilities was never better illustrated in his preparations for Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland (1904) where he spent months with the whaling fleet in the Atlantic in order to study first hand a group of mammals that had hitherto received little attention. The work which appeared in a limited print run in 1904 also contains illustrations and chromolithographs by George Edward Lodge
(1860–1954) and Archibald Thorburn
.
In 1917 he published the first of two volumes on rhododendrons and their various hybrids. The addition was limited to 550 copies with 17 full colour plates of gardens and plants at his home, Compton Brow in Horsham. In the preface Johnny Millais informs the reader that he began cultivating rhododendrons under the tutelage of his neighbour the naturalist and botanist Sir Edmund Loder
He also wrote biographies of his father John Everett Millais and Frederick Courtney Selous.In addition he became an authority on rhododendron
s, azalea
s and magnolia
s and exhibited as a sculpturer of birds including one of fighting game birds now owned by the Horsham Museum
.
an artist who lived to be nearly one hundred years of age and finally another daughter Rosamond (often called Rosamund) in 1904. In 1900 Millais arranged for the building of a house called Compton's Brow in Horsham from where he created a private museum. The collection assembled at Horsham reflected his broad interests and included specimens of big-game, deer, waterfowl, bats, seals. The collection even included a whole Grizzly Bear and a Tay
Salmon weighing 50 lb. He continually created illustrations and painted his wildlife collection. Millais would regularly take off for months at a time to go big game hunting and to travel bringing back numerous specimens to add to his vast collection. This continued until well into the 1920s. When in Horsham he entertained widely and enthusiastically. Hillaire Belloc would come to dinner once a month and would sit up to the early hours of the morning drinking large amounts of beer as the teetotal Millais listened to extravagant tales.
At Horsham he also created a garden remembered for its beauty. He cultivated a number of new rhododendrons, including one he named after his wife Fanny and his daughter Rosamond Millais. His son Raoul recalled a chaotic busy house and a father who was 'enormously intelligent, with the energy of a racing car, a workaholic with immense enthusiasm and a keen sense of the ridiculous' The house and garden did not survive his death, but a few smaller notable plants were saved, some of which were replanted in the Windsor Great Park by his nephew E.G. Millais (Ted Millais), a leading Rhododendron and Azalea propagation specialist.
Millais had the ability to convey the subtlety of the natural world with an artistic skill that marks him out as a great bird artist in particular. His gift was to communicate his love and respect for the natural world.
He died at Horsham on his sixty-sixth birthday.
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
, gardener and travel writer who specialised in wildlife and flower portraiture. He travelled extensively around the world in the late Victorian period detailing wildlife often for the first time. He is noted for illustrations that are of a particularly exact nature.
Early life
John Guille Millais was the fourth son and seventh child of Sir John Everett MillaisJohn Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
, the Pre-Raphaelite painter, and his wife Effie Gray
Effie Gray
Euphemia Chalmers Millais, Lady Millais née Gray, known as Effie Gray, Effie Ruskin or Effie Millais was the wife of the critic John Ruskin, but left her husband without the marriage being consummated, and after the annulment of the marriage, married his protégé, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John...
. He grew up in London and Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
with a wide interest in natural history, which embraced horticulture,hunting including big game hunting and wildfowl. As a boy he made a collection of birds shot around the Perthshire coast of Scotland where he spent much of his childhood. This formed the basis of a lifetime collection of around 3,000 specimens that he later housed in a private museum in Horsham in West Sussex, England. Specimens from this collection were depicted by his father in his painting The Ruling Passion
The Ruling Passion
The Ruling Passion, sometimes called The Ornithologist, is a painting by John Everett Millais which was shown at the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1885....
(also known as The Ornithologist). John Guille himself painted a bird in his father's painting Dew-Drenched Furze.
Working life
Millais began his career in the army with the Seaforth HighlandersSeaforth Highlanders
The Seaforth Highlanders was a historic regiment of the British Army associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The Seaforth Highlanders have varied in size from two battalions to seventeen battalions during the Great War...
, but after six years he resigned to travel the world. His was clearly a wanderlust based on a desire to see, record and paint the natural world. To this end he travelled widely in Europe, Africa and North America. In the New World in the 1880s/90s he explored Canada and Newfoundland
Dominion of Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...
and helped map uncharted areas of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
Shikar Club
The Shikar Club is an international sporting club founded in London in 1909 by former pupils of Eton College and Rugby School to champion the cause of hunting and in particular big game hunting...
a sportsclub where like-minded associates could dine and discuss their mutual passion for hunting especially big game hunting..Johnny Millais was passionate about hunting and fellow members included the famous hunters Frederick Selous
Frederick Selous
Frederick Courteney Selous DSO was a British explorer, officer, hunter, and conservationist, famous for his exploits in south and east of Africa. His real-life adventures inspired Sir H. Rider Haggard to create the fictional Allan Quatermain character. Selous was also a good friend of Theodore...
(the brother of ornithologist Edmund Selous
Edmund Selous
Edmund Selous was a British ornithologist and writer. He was the younger brother of big-game hunter Frederick Selous.Selous was a strong proponent of non-destructive bird-study as opposed to the collection of skins and eggs...
),the African game hunter Arthur Neumann, and the explorer and game hunter Frank Wallace
Frank Wallace
Frank Wallace was an Irish-American gangster from South Boston, who ran the Gustin Gang in Boston during the Prohibition in the United States....
. The club still survives and includes the Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...
amongst its members.
During World War I (1914–1918) whilst in his fifties he served in the secret service of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in Norway and in Iceland. His autobiographical book Wanderings and Memories(1919) recounts that Johnny Millais was involved in counter-espionage , provided with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and was appointed British Vice-Counsul at Hammerfest
Hammerfest
is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The municipality encompasses parts of three islands: Kvaløya, Sørøya, and Seiland. Hammerfest was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838...
in northern Norway where he stayed until 1917. Millais recalled that in August 1915 he met with two German spies at Christiania
Christiania
-Places:* Christiania or Kristiania, names of Oslo * Freetown Christiania , a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood of Copenhagen, Denmark* Christiania Township, Minnesota, a township in Jackson County...
and with whom he travelled to Lofoten
Lofoten
Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...
. Johnny Millais was evidently engaged in setting up and supporting a network of counter espionage. The importance of Norway to the war effort was that the northern seas provided a route for food and materials to reach British ports. Millais reported back from Norway that whilst the Norwegian authorities were generally pro British much of the population were pro German.In December 1917 he came close to capture by the Germans but with the help of a harbour master he managed to get out of Norway, returning to Newcastle.
In the period immediately after the War J. G. Millais wrote and published a book on his life and hunting exploits in Africa and Scotland. Wanderings and Memories chronicled his passion for big game hunting and also his fondness for Scotland of his childhood. It also contains a chapter from Arthur Neumann, a famous elephant hunter of the day. This book went to several reprints including an American edition renamed A Sportsman's Wanderings.
In 1921 he travelled with his son Raoul Millais
Raoul Millais
Hesketh Raoul Lejarderay Millais , usually known as Raoul or 'Liony' Millais was a portrait painter, equestrian artist and sportsman...
to the southern Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and mapped for the first time large areas of Bahr al Ghazal, an exploit which led to a book on the Upper Nile
Artistic career
They rank amongst some of the finest work on wildfowl ever published. Each bird receives individual treatment in text and detailed exact chromolithographs, some of which are by his friend and pre-eminent bird artist of the day Archibald Thorburn
Archibald Thorburn
Archibald Thorburn was a Scottish artist and bird illustrator, painting mostly in watercolour. He regularly visited Scotland to sketch birds in the wild, his favourite haunt being the Forest of Gaick near Kingussie in Invernesshire...
(1860–1935). Each species is represented by two or three individuals on a plate drawn in attitudes of feeding, resting and courtship.
The books are lavish and with just 400 to 600 original editions published are now prized as examples of a certain type of High Victorian grandeur. Millais’ skills are essentially Victorian, as private wealth allowed him to indulge on a grand scale his passions. He was undoubtedly tenacious. His son Raoul Millais spoke of him as an "astonishing man and his power of concentration was such that once he took up a subject he never left it until he knew more about it than anyone in the World"
This tenacity to get a job done to the best of abilities was never better illustrated in his preparations for Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland (1904) where he spent months with the whaling fleet in the Atlantic in order to study first hand a group of mammals that had hitherto received little attention. The work which appeared in a limited print run in 1904 also contains illustrations and chromolithographs by George Edward Lodge
George Edward Lodge
George Edward Lodge FZS, was a British illustrator of birds and an authority on falconry.-Early life:...
(1860–1954) and Archibald Thorburn
Archibald Thorburn
Archibald Thorburn was a Scottish artist and bird illustrator, painting mostly in watercolour. He regularly visited Scotland to sketch birds in the wild, his favourite haunt being the Forest of Gaick near Kingussie in Invernesshire...
.
In 1917 he published the first of two volumes on rhododendrons and their various hybrids. The addition was limited to 550 copies with 17 full colour plates of gardens and plants at his home, Compton Brow in Horsham. In the preface Johnny Millais informs the reader that he began cultivating rhododendrons under the tutelage of his neighbour the naturalist and botanist Sir Edmund Loder
He also wrote biographies of his father John Everett Millais and Frederick Courtney Selous.In addition he became an authority on rhododendron
Rhododendron
Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...
s, azalea
Azalea
Azaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Pentanthera and Tsutsuji . Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks...
s and magnolia
Magnolia
Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....
s and exhibited as a sculpturer of birds including one of fighting game birds now owned by the Horsham Museum
Horsham Museum
Horsham Museum is a museum at Horsham, West Sussex, in South East England. It was founded in August 1893 by volunteers of the Free Christian Church and became part of Horsham District Council in 1974...
.
Family life in Sussex
Johnny Millais settled his family in England at Horsham in West Sussex. In 1893 he had married Frances (Fanny)Margaret Skipworth, the daughter of a Lincolnshire landowner. Their first daughter Daphne was born in 1895 (she died of appendicitis in 1904), followed by Geoffroy (George) in 1896 (he was killed in action shortly before the Armistice in 1918) then Raoul MillaisRaoul Millais
Hesketh Raoul Lejarderay Millais , usually known as Raoul or 'Liony' Millais was a portrait painter, equestrian artist and sportsman...
an artist who lived to be nearly one hundred years of age and finally another daughter Rosamond (often called Rosamund) in 1904. In 1900 Millais arranged for the building of a house called Compton's Brow in Horsham from where he created a private museum. The collection assembled at Horsham reflected his broad interests and included specimens of big-game, deer, waterfowl, bats, seals. The collection even included a whole Grizzly Bear and a Tay
River Tay
The River Tay is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in the United Kingdom. The Tay originates in western Scotland on the slopes of Ben Lui , then flows easterly across the Highlands, through Loch Dochhart, Loch Lubhair and Loch Tay, then continues east through Strathtay , in...
Salmon weighing 50 lb. He continually created illustrations and painted his wildlife collection. Millais would regularly take off for months at a time to go big game hunting and to travel bringing back numerous specimens to add to his vast collection. This continued until well into the 1920s. When in Horsham he entertained widely and enthusiastically. Hillaire Belloc would come to dinner once a month and would sit up to the early hours of the morning drinking large amounts of beer as the teetotal Millais listened to extravagant tales.
At Horsham he also created a garden remembered for its beauty. He cultivated a number of new rhododendrons, including one he named after his wife Fanny and his daughter Rosamond Millais. His son Raoul recalled a chaotic busy house and a father who was 'enormously intelligent, with the energy of a racing car, a workaholic with immense enthusiasm and a keen sense of the ridiculous' The house and garden did not survive his death, but a few smaller notable plants were saved, some of which were replanted in the Windsor Great Park by his nephew E.G. Millais (Ted Millais), a leading Rhododendron and Azalea propagation specialist.
Millais had the ability to convey the subtlety of the natural world with an artistic skill that marks him out as a great bird artist in particular. His gift was to communicate his love and respect for the natural world.
He died at Horsham on his sixty-sixth birthday.