Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Milne, John

by Herbert Hall Turner

MILNE, JOHN (1850–1913), mining engineer and seismologist, the only child of John Milne, of Milnrow, Rochdale, by his wife, Emma, daughter of James Twycross, J.P., of Wokingham, was born at Liverpool 30 December 1850. After schools at Rochdale and Liverpool he went to King’s College, London, where he was a contemporary of Lord Milner, who many years later (1906) was honoured by the university of Oxford at the same encenia as Milne. Having gained a scholarship, Milne attended the Royal School of Mines to study geology and mineralogy. After some practical mining experience in Cornwall and Lancashire, he studied mineralogy at Freiberg and visited the principal mining districts of Germany. At the request of Cyrus Field he spent two years (1872–1874) in investigating the mineral resources of Newfoundland and Labrador. He also visited Funk Island, once the home of the great auk, and made a large collection of skeletons of that bird. In 1874 he joined the expedition of Dr. C. J. Beke to investigate the situation of Mount Sinai, and published interesting geological notes on the environs of Cairo.

In 1875 Milne was appointed professor of geology and mining in the Imperial College, Tokio, at a time when William Edward Ayrton [q.v.], J. A. (afterwards Sir Alfred) Ewing, and John Perry were teaching physics and engineering there. To reach Japan Milne chose to travel via Siberia and Mongolia—a journey which occupied eleven months and involved much hardship. Milne proved to be an excellent teacher, and his services were retained for twenty years and were rewarded on his return to England in 1895 by a pension from the Japanese government, and the decoration of the order of the rising sun.

Milne had his first experience of an earthquake on the night of his arrival in Tokio. Subsequently he came to devote the greater part of his time to the subject, with the co-operation of the Japanese government. After the disastrous earthquake which partially destroyed Yokohama in February 1880, Milne took the lead in forming the Seismological Society of Japan. As its secretary for fifteen years he was responsible for twenty volumes of its Transactions. He was the first professor of seismology in the imperial university of Tokio, and established the seismic survey of Japan, involving the erection of nearly one thousand observing stations. One practical result was the revolutionizing of house and bridge building in that country.

On his return to England, Milne became secretary of the seismological committee of the British Association and retained the position until his death. His seismic survey now embraced all British territory, and he was again responsible for a series of valuable Reports for the Association. It was at this time that he devised a simple form of seismograph—an invention which he had forecasted as early as 1883. These instruments, which were delicate enough to record the effects of large earthquakes occurring at any place on the earth’s surface, were set up at numerous stations throughout the world —chiefly on British territory. From the records communicated to him at his home in the Isle of Wight, Milne was able to deduce particulars of the disturbances which had occurred. It was soon realized that the effects of a shock travelled to any particular station by more than one route either through the body of the earth or round its surface; and the study of the relationships of these routes has given new and valuable information on the structure of the earth’s interior. Milne was thus the first to open up a new field of scientific inquiry, which has since been rapidly explored by many investigators.

Milne’s travels were extensive. As a schoolboy he had shown his bent for travel by setting off, without consulting his parents, on an expedition to Iceland, where he joined in a very dangerous exploration of the Vatna Jokul. His journey through Siberia has already been mentioned; he also visited Kamchatka, calling at most of the Kuriles. He was well known in America and Canada, and he made observations in Manila, Borneo, the Australian colonies, New Zealand, and many islands of the Pacific; in 1905 he went with the British Association to South Africa.

Milne was very hospitable both in Japan and at Shide, Isle of Wight, his English home. This, and the ungrudging pains which he took to instruct intending seismologists, contributed materially to his success in organizing the network of distant observing stations. In all his seismological work he was devotedly served by his Japanese assistant, Shinobu Hirota, who died just before him. Milne died at Shide 30 July 1913.

Milne married Tone, daughter of Horikawa Noritsune, abbot of Ganjo-ji, Hako- date. She survived him without issue, returned to Japan in 1920, and died there in 1925.

[Obituary notice in Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. lxxxix, A, 1913-1914, by John Perry; Journal of the Geological Society, 1874 et seqq.; Geological Magazine, 1874-1912; Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan; Transactions of the Seismological Society of Japan; Reports of the British Association.]

H. H. T.