Australian Dictionary of Biography

JSC Miller, 1962

Nicholas Miller

John Stephen Corfield Miller (1916–1997), Anglican priest and headmaster, was born on 11 January 1916 at Hightown, Lancashire, England, eldest of four children and only son of Augustus Powell Miller, priest, and his wife Ranee Corfield, née King. As a boarder at Liverpool College (1929–35), John was a prefect and house captain, and much influenced by his housemaster and headmaster, the Rev. Robert Wilmot Howard, perhaps taking on Howard’s conviction that ‘a boy’s religion should be clear, simple and full of daylight’ (Wainwright 1960, 241). With a diocesan scholarship for ordination candidates, he read history and theology at Selwyn College, Cambridge (BA, 1938; MA, 1941) and was awarded first-class honours in the theology tripos, before training for the ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge.

Made deacon in 1940 and ordained priest in 1941 by the bishop of Ripon, Miller was curate at Leeds Parish Church from 1940 to 1943. Appointed to Marlborough College, Wiltshire, in 1943 as chaplain, he learned to relate his preaching to the lived experience of schoolboys. He also asserted that the chaplain, and not the housemasters, should prepare boys for confirmation.

In 1953 Miller became rector of St Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate, London, as well as the Student Christian Movement’s general secretary for schools. By leading the SCM’s expansion into secondary modern schools, he showed a talent for administration and fund-raising. At St Helen’s on 30 November 1957 he married Margaret Hester Wright, a New Zealand-born music student.

Miller was incredulous to be offered the headmastership of St Peter’s College, Adelaide, in 1960, after an interview by the chairman of the council of governors, Bishop Thomas Reed, then on a flying visit to London in search of a clerical headmaster. Hesitant because of his lack of experience, Miller was encouraged to accept by Canon Kenneth Bickersteth, a former St Peter’s headmaster (1920–33), and the archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Francis Fisher, later Baron Fisher of Lambeth, who was also a former Marlborough student and teacher.

At a time when British appointees to positions of authority in Australia were beginning to be questioned locally, the arrival in 1961 of this English cleric was a cultural shock to those who felt that St Peter’s had become an essentially Australian school. Some of the teaching staff, who revered his predecessor, Colin Gordon, disliked Miller’s more remote style of leadership, and later lamented his term of office as ‘those dismal days’ (Schubert 1992). Boys privately mocked what they perceived as his pompous mannerisms, responding to his usual summer garb of black trousers, black shirt, clerical collar, and white jacket, combined with his portly, waddling gait, by dubbing him ‘Penguin,’ which he rather liked.

Miller was nonetheless an innovator who saw himself ‘blending experience with experiment’ (Miller 1971, 9). A skilled advocate, he persuaded the council to increase the size of the senior school by one-fifth. During his time as headmaster, twenty-one major building projects were completed. Rather than rely on income from the school’s Da Costa estate bequest, he convinced the reluctant council to finance a library building through an appeal organised by professional fund-raisers. He redressed the dominance of science in the curriculum by fostering the arts and classical studies; introduced agricultural courses for boys intending to be farmers, and the teaching of Asian studies including the Indonesian language; and expanded the range of sports available at the school.

There was no doubting Miller’s energy and devotion, but his reluctance to delegate, and his preference to reflect rather than make immediate decisions, caused disquiet. Teachers’ and old scholars’ resentment erupted in December 1969 when a majority of the council concluded that he should resign at the end of 1971. He immediately consulted his friend and old Marlburian Frank Woods, Archbishop of Melbourne, who advised him to stand his ground. After further confidential discussions with the headmaster, the council decided not to force his departure.

A few rebellious older boys, influenced by broader currents of student radicalism emerging in the late 1960s, continued to publicly challenge the school’s traditional values and discipline, including the existence of a cadet corps in a church school. Miller declined to respond to criticism in the media, bearing attacks with apparent ‘unruffled calm’ (Schubert 1992), fortified by his faith and solitary beach walks. His ‘steely will’ (Times 1997, 23) eventually earned him the respect of most parents and boys. When he retired in 1978, the archbishop of Adelaide, Keith Rayner, remarked particularly on Miller’s commitment to excellence in teaching, and alluded to the challenges he had faced down by noting that ‘popularity is not the test in the end of a good Headmaster’ (Rayner 1978).

Returning to England that year, Miller and his family settled at Guildford, Surrey, where he taught at Bishop Reindorp School before being appointed schools religious education officer for the diocese of Guildford. ‘A strong man with clear cut beliefs’ (Hattersley 1997), from 1988 he relished chairing the Action Group for the Encouragement of Religious Education, which advocated that England’s Christian heritage should be explicitly reflected in religious education.

Retiring in 1993, and subsequently suffering from dementia, Miller died from bronchopneumonia at Guildford on 16 January 1997, survived by Margaret and their children Nicholas, Julian, and Katherine. His ashes were interred with those of his parents in St Olave’s Church, City of London; his portrait in oils by Ivor Hele is held by St Peter’s College.