From the 1950s to the ‘70s the name Millie Miller was widely known in London, particularly in local government and Parliament. Elected a Councillor in Camden when it was created in 1964, its first woman Mayor and in 1971 first woman to lead any London Council, she left a legacy of housing and social achievements for which Camden was famed but for which her role has been largely forgotten. And much of Camden and the West End’s built heritage which was under attack from ‘development’ in the 60s and 70s still stands as testimony to her efforts to preserve and give value to the best of London’s past. In 1974, in a general election tainted by the Tory candidate’s repeated weaponisation of antisemitism, she was elected to be MP for Ilford North, then the constituency with country’s largest Jewish electorate. As Vice President of her synagogue and, for many years, Chair of its council, she ought to have been an unlikely target for accusations by her opponent of being a ‘red Nazi’ but she was. Through all those years she was helped, inspired, guided and sometimes mentored, often in ways she did not even know, by people who she almost certainly did not know were relatives. At least three of them saved or extended her life by more than thirty years.
To mark the beginning of what would have been her 100th year, 45 years after her death, her son, JGSGB member Bernard Miller has been researching Millie’s genealogical connections, most but not all of which he believes she was totally unaware of – not all of the relatives Bernard has discovered were people she would have considered ‘goodies’. In our first in-person meeting since the Covid lockdowns, he will reveal a cast of relatives, real characters whose lives interacted with hers and even some fictional ones.
To find out more, including her connections to Dickens, join us on 10 April at 2.00. p.m. for our first in-person meeting at the Jewish Museum in Camden Town, or by Zoom from wherever you are in the world: please book through Tixoom at https://tixoom.app/leighdworkin/pacgxn3s if you would like to attend remotely only and do not buy a ticket here.
