John McInnes Millar, was a draughtsman and lithographer employed by Bemrose & Sons of Derby as a Colour Collotype Artist. (Interestingly, his 1921 census entry omits the letter 'u', American fashion). He had been born in Edinburgh in March 1881, but as a young man, he contracted tuberculosis in his hips which resulted in him being hospitalised in Liverpool for a long period. He was discharged from hospital in 1898, but the illness left him with a permanent limp which exempted him from military service during WWI. It is not known when he was first employed by Bemrose or when he left, but it is believed that he became redundant soon after the grouping when the LMS opted to use a different printer. In order to survive, Bemrose were forced to amalgamate with other companies soon after. We know that in 1921 Millar and his wife Helen, along with their family of four, lived at The Grove, Castleway, Willington. (See below). According to the family, they later moved to Burton-on-Trent. John died in the 1930s. His widow, Helen, lived to see the ripe old age of 95 before she too passed away in 1975.

The John McInnes Millar Collection comprises of several unfinished Distance Diagrams which have not been signed off by the MR and are missing information that they would supply to finish the work.

The diagrams are:

• Morecambe, Heysham and Fleetwood. 1909 (RFB32574)
• Keighley, Skipton and Colne. 1909 (RFB32572
• Cromer and North Walsham. 1907 (RFB32572)

There are also two Estate Plans; Pye Bridge (RFB32571) on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border and Luton (RFB32570), which also shows the former Great Northern station. Neither plan is dated but the Luton example shows the municipal tramway which opened in February 1908.

The pièce de résistance is undoubtedly a framed and glazed M.R. Drawing No. 10 N.W. which was authorised by the Engineer, W. B. Worthington and dated July 1908, titled “Mileage and Gradient Posts” (RFB32569). This should prove of inestimable value to Midland modellers. Each of the items are signed on the reverse John McInnes Miller.

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The whole subject of Bemrose & Sons and their relationship with the Midland Railway is as under researched as it is fascinating. Here is a very brief history of the company...

The business was started at Derby around 1822 by Mr. William Bemrose, snr. It afterwards passed into the hands of Sir Henry Bemrose and Mr. William Bemrose, F.S.A., who, for family reasons, converted it into a private limited company to become Bemrose and Sons Limited in 1891. In February 1922, no doubt foreseeing the results of the Railway Grouping and consequent loss of business, the company combined with printers from Leeds and Manchester to become Universal Printers, the first directors of which included William Wright Bemrose. The company returned to its former name of Bemrose in 1972 but it had always remained known as that in Derby, anyway. With subsequent further amalgamations and takeovers, today the company is known as Paragon. In recent years the company specialised in security printing such as cheque books and other high-tech media.

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