Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1950 - 1974 (Accumulation)
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Extent and medium
2 cm of textual material
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Thomas Reagh Millman was born in Kensington, Prince Edward Island on June 14, 1905. He was educated at Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown, University College, Toronto (B.A. 1931, M.A. 1933), Wycliffe College (L.Th. 1933, B.D. 1938) and McGill University where he received his doctorate in 1943, which was published with the University of Toronto Press (1947).
He was ordained deacon in 1933 and ordained priest in 1934. From 1935 until 1941 Dr. Millman was lecturer and dean of residence at the Montreal Diocesan Theological College. From 1950-1954 he was professor of church history at Huron College, London, Ontario, and from 1954 until he retired in 1974 he was professor of church history at Wycliffe College. He was also associated with the Toronto School of Theology. He was awarded the degree of D.D. by the University of Western Ontario in 1953, by Wycliffe College in 1974 and Trinity College in 1977 and the degree of D.C.L. by the University of King’s College, Halifax in 1974.
As a parish priest Dr. Millman served first at Grafton in the Diocese of Toronto, then from 1941 to 1949 he was rector of Dunham and Frelighsberg (St. Armand East) in the Diocese of Montreal and finally at Alvinston with Inwood in the Diocese of Huron. He was made a Canon of St. James Cathedral, Toronto in 1969 and was an honorary assistant for over 40 years at St. Timothy’s Church, Toronto.
Dr. Millman was the first archivist of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, serving from 1955 until 1974, as well as a founder of the Canadian Church Historical Society. While in the Diocese of Montreal he was one of the founders of the Montreal Diocesan Archives, along with the Reverends S.B. Lindsay and R.K. Naylor and Professor J.I. Cooper.
Dr. Millman was a church historian who published many works. His first two books were biographies, Jacob Mountain, First Lord Bishop of Quebec (1947) and The Life of the Right Reverend, the Honourable Charles Stewart, Second Anglican Bishop of Quebec (1953). In 1983 he published Atlantic Canada to 1900: A History of the Anglican Church, which was started by Canon A.R. Kelly; Dr. Millman completed the book after the death of Canon Kelly in 1961. Dr. Millman was also a contributor to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and was also published in the Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society.
Dr. Millman married Margaret McLeod of Lennoxville, Quebec in 1944. She died in 1991.
Dr. Millman died on November 22, 1996 in Toronto. His funeral took place on November 25, 1996 at St. Timothy’s Church, Toronto. He is buried at St. Stephens, Irishtown, Prince Edward Island.
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Content and structure area
Scope and content
File contains text of addresses given by Dr. Millman. There are three addresses that were delivered during student orientation at Wycliffe College – two are undated, and the third was delivered on September 6, 1974. The addresses welcome students to the College and outline class information and use of the library.
During his time at Wycliffe College Dr. Millman served as Honorary President of the Wycliffe Athletic Society, and this file contains one of the speeches he delivered in that capacity during a Wycliffe College Athletic Society banquet. Also contained is an address he made to the Athletic Society in 1964, at the end of his term as Honorary President. There is an address that was delivered to the Alumni Association of Wycliffe College on the occasion of the unveiling of the Leonard Memorial Window in the College Chapel on September 16, 1952.
Also included is a paper on the Lindisfarne Gospels read before the Trustees of Wycliffe College on September 20, 1957; being the occasion on which a facsimile of the Gospels was presented to the College by Mr. C.L. Barton.
There is one item in the file that does not relate to Dr. Millman’s affiliation with Wycliffe College; there is a one-page type-written document announcing the appointment of Dr. Millman to Huron College as dean of residence and professor of Church History. Also included is a note stating that the text appeared in The London Free Press on Saturday, December 30, 1950.