(Harry) Malcolm Miller

MR MALCOLM MILLER – A correspondent writes: By the death of Mr Malcolm Miller in his 70th year Manchester loses a sculptor of distinction. The shock he received on seeing the damage to Manchester Cathedral, which he loved so well and where so much of his work was shattered in the recent raids, without doubt contributed to his end. Manchester owed much to his skill as an architectural carver and modeller in stone, wood, bronze and plaster. He was primarily an interpreter of the conceptions of the architect, enriching buildings of all kinds with the craftsman’s special quality of sympathy and modesty, a suppression of individualism in an effort to enhance the whole.  When things are well done they look easy, and few know how ungrudgingly Miller gave his strength. He lived for his art alone. He had a rare capacity for teaching and inspiring a team of craftsmen to execute his ideas, and his self-effacing nature took refuge under the name of his firm Earp Hobbs and Miller, of very old standing in the city.

He was especially associated with the late Sir Percy Worthington and his brother, but in his working life of over fifty years of strenuous labour he worked for many architects and the carvings of the North of Ireland Parliament Buildings for Sir Arnold Thornely were among his largest works. Though the life size figures of St Michael and St George in the Manchester Regiment Chapel were destroyed, the main carvings of the shrine, the lectern and the font cover have escaped, and the ivory and ebony cross and candlesticks on the altar were put in a place of safety. Many churches in the area bear witness to his skill – the war memorial at St Mary’s Church, Alderley, the organ case in Wilmslow Church, the reredos in Middleton Church and work in St Paul’s Bury may be mentioned. Freemasons have cause to be grateful to him for the carvings in the masonic temple in Bridge Street and the new Grammar School will remember him in its great organ in the hall and coat of arms over the main archway. His many tombstones and memorials have a special distinction and are a model of what such things should be, such as those commemorating Captain Arthur Taylor, Dean McCormick, Sir Percy Worthington and Mr C P Scott. But he left his mark beyond the bounds of his native city on the recently completed library for New College at Oxford, with its heraldry in stone, its carvings in travertine and English oak. The carvings in Garden Buildings for Merton College are another instance of his work. He represents an epoch that has come to an end with the war and one that will probably not be seen again. Miller and his school enriched their generation, and his passing will be felt by many who, consciously or unconsciously, will continue to enjoy the works of his hand. He has left a memorial that will endure. [Manchester Guardian 8 January 1941 page 8]