603 John Miller

Constituency : Edinburgh  1868-74

John  was  elected  unopposed  as  one  of  Edinburgh's  two  MPs  succeeding  James  Moncrieff.

John  was  born  in  Ayr  and  was  another  railway  engineer. He  had  a  partnership  with  Thomas  Grainger. He  surveyed  the  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  Railway  and  designed  many  viaducts.
He  retired  in  1850. He  unsuccessfully  contested  Stirling  Burghs  in  1852  losing  to  Sir  James  Anderson  by  20  votes .  He  contested  Edinburgh  in  1865  hoping  to  be  elected  alongside  Duncan  McLaren  who  he  financially  supported . McLaren  was  elected  but  John  lost  out  to  James  Moncrieff.

John  was  on  the  right  of  the  party and  sometimes  described  himself  as  "a  progressive  conservative". He  was  an  advocate  of  self-help. He  spoke  in  the  Commons  on  education  and  engineering-related  matters.

John  invested  his  money  in  land, property  and  art.

By  1874  John   and  McLaren  were  no  longer  allies  and  the  latter  campaigned  with  James  Cowan instead. John  was  encouraged  to  re-stand   by  a   trade  union  faction  the  "Advanced  Liberals" but  he  lost  out  with  19 %  of  the  vote.

He  died    in  1883  aged  78.