Anna, Lady Miller

Anna, Lady Miller (née Riggs; 1741 – 24 June 1781) was an English poet, travel writer, heiress and salon hostess.

Her grandfather, Edward Riggs, had been a member of the Irish House of Commons, a commissioner of revenue, and a Privy Councillor in Ireland, and Anna inherited much of his wealth.

[4][5] In 1765 Anna married John Miller, a member of a poor Irish family seated at Ballicasey, County Clare.

At extravagant cost he built a house at Batheaston, near Bath, and laid out a garden, of which Walpole gave a detailed description.

The book did enjoy some success but Walpole's opinion was that "The poor Arcadian patroness does not spell one word of French or Italian right through her three volumes of travel".

Edward Drax was one of the attendees at the soirees and he and Miller were satirised in an article in the Morning Post in 1778: Tho' sceptics doubt at Bath we know / That Chance not Order, reign below, / Else why 'gainst Sense and Nature's rule, / Does M-LL-R keep the Muses School?

DR-X, makes thee a poet: /Who read they verse must surely know itYou may try your hand at an ode, and I do not doubt but you may be crowned with myrtle for your performance".

[9] Walpole, in a letter to Henry Seymour Conway, said, "I am glad you went [to Bath], especially as you escaped being initiated into Mrs. Miller's follies at Bath-Easton.

[13] Lady Miller died on 24 June 1781, at the Hot Wells, Bristol, and was buried in the Abbey Church, Bath.