Frank Miles
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George Francis Miles (1852–1891) was a London artist who specialised in pastel portraits of society ladies, also an architect and a keen plantsman. He was the son of the Rev. Robert Miles (1818-1883), the rector of Bingham in Nottinghamshire, and grandson of Philip John Miles (1773–1845) by his second marriage to Clarissa Peach (1790 - 1868). Philip John Miles was an English landowner, banker, merchant, politician and collector, who was elected MP for Bristol from 1835 - 1837 having earlier been elected for Westbury from 1820 - 1826 and Corfe Castle from 1829 - 1832. Frank Miles was therefore cousin of Philip Napier Miles and half-cousin of Sir Philip Miles, 2nd Baronet.
Today, Frank Miles is best known for being a friend (and many believe a lover) of Oscar Wilde whom he met in 1874 or 5. They met at Oxford where Miles had family connections to the colleges and friends, but was never an undergraduate after being schooled at home (rather than at Eton as his father and uncles were). Miles introduced Wilde to Lillie Langtry, and to his friend and patron Lord Ronald Charles Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, who later became the model for the worldly Lord Henry Wotton in Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Miles commissioned Edward William Godwin to build him a house at what was then No 1 (but later renumbered to 44) Tite Street, Chelsea and moved in from his previous residence off the Strand. Oscar Wilde had been living with him since leaving Oxford in 1878 but it is clear that Miles, two years older than Wilde, was by far the dominant partner. Wilde, although ambitious, had no money and few social connections, while Miles had both, with a generouse allowance from his wealthy father and the royalties from his drawings, Miles was able to keep his friend in style. The Court Directory and the Post Office London Directory for 1881 list Miles as the occupant but do not mention Wiled. The 1881 Census names Miles as head of the household and describes Wilde as merely a "boarder". [1]
His paintings and drawings included Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick (another mistress to King Edward VII), the Countess of Lonsdale, Sir George Sitwell and his wife Ida and Princess Victoria, Princess Maud and Princess Louise. [2] His work can also be seen in the church at Bingham, Nottinghamshire where he designed the stained glass windows.
He imported many species of plant and cultivated new varieties.
In 1887, Miles was committed to an asylum near Bristol, and he died in 1891 of what was diagnosed as 'general paralysis of the insane[3] (4 years), exhaustion and pneumonia.
Frank Miles and his artistic inspiration Lillie Langtry are portrayed in the mini-series "Lillie" (1978). Langtry became the first publicly acknowleged mistress of the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII between 1877-80. The Prince of Wales was an occasional guest and shooting companion of Frank's cousin, Sir Philip Miles.
For the theory that Frank Miles was the Whitechapel murderer known as Jack the Ripper, see Thomas Toughill's 'The Ripper Code' (The History Press 2008).
Notes
References
- Neil McKenna, The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde
- Donald Rumbelow, The Complete Jack the Ripper
- Molly Whittington-Egan Frank Miles and Oscar Wilde: such white lilies published by Rivendale Press, Jan. 2008
- Thomas Toughill The Ripper Code (The History Press 2008).