# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macmillan, Daniel

1904 Errata appended.
​MACMILLAN, DANIEL (1813–1857), bookseller and publisher, tenth child and third son of Duncan Macmillan, by Katherine, daughter of William Crawford, was born at Upper Corrie in the Island of Arran, 13 Sept. 1813. His grandfather, Malcolm, 'tacksman,' or foreman, on the 'Cock' farm, was of an old covenanting stock, allied to the Macmillans of Sanquhar and Arndarroch [see Macmillan, John]. His father migrated to Irvine in 1815, and tilled a small farm there until his death in 1823. Daniel was educated at the common school, and in 1824 bound to Maxwell Dick, bookseller and bookbinder, of Irvine, whence he moved in 1831 to Atkinson's shop at Glasgow. In 1833 he came to London a raw Scottish lad, who was unfavourably surprised to find that 'all he had read about a London Sunday' was 'quite true.' He visited 'the magnates' of Paternoster Row, but was not attracted by the conditions of a post offered him by Messrs. Simpkin & Marshall, and preferred to take service (on a salary of 30l.) with a Cambridge bookseller, Mr. Johnson, a serious man and a baptist ​church member. Here in the course of three years he became a master of his trade, and learned to know every book in the shop. He lived with his master s family, whom he describes as 'kind and pious,' and in their congenial society he experienced 'the new birth.' At the same time he read wisely and well, with beneficial results. In December 1853 'things spiritual took a more cheerful turn,' and Calvmistic cobwebs ceased to trouble him seriously. To his friend James Maclehose, a young shopman at Seeley's in Fleet Street, afterwards the well-known Glasgow bookseller and publisher, he wrote frequent letters, which exhibit some critical insight. Jeremy Taylor, Landor, and Carlyle were his demi-gods. He also read Voltaire and Gibbon, but overcame the phase of scepticism that ensued, and commenced a diary, which is full of his spiritual experiences. From 1837 to 1843 he was in the service of Messrs. Seeley of Fleet Street, at a salary which advanced steadily from 60l. to 130l., in spite of long absences in Scotland, enforced by his always delicate health. In 1843 he started on his own account a shop in Aldersgate Street, where energy and knowledge enabled him to surmount the difficulties incidental to his lack of capital. In 1840, through a correspondence which followed his reading 'Guesses at Truth,' he made the acquaintance of Julius Charles Hare [q. v.] and his brothers Augustus and Francis, an intimacy which proved most valuable to him in every way. Other friends were William Hone [q. v.], author of the 'Every-day Book,' and F. D. Maurice [q. v.], the latter acquired through a visit to the Hares at Hurstmonceaux in September 1842. At the end of 1843, with the help of a loan from the Hares, Macmillan was able to take over Newby's business in Trinity Street, Cambridge, 'just opposite the Senate House.' The first Cambridge catalogue of Macmillan & Co. (the 'Co.' being represented by Daniel's brother Alexander, who for the present kept up the shop in Aldersgate Street, though this was relinquished before the end of the year) was issued in March 1844. The conjuncture was a happy one for a man of Macmillan's energies and special rifts. No man who oversold books for a livelihood was more conscious of a vocation. 'In selling books,' he wrote to his friend Maclehose, 'you never, surely, thought you were merely working for bread.' Combined with this loftiness of aim went the greatest shrewdness, caution, aptitude for detail, commercial readiness, enterprise, and skill. Such a man was sure of a career in Cambridge, where the trade was in a lethargic condition. 'The confidence of undergraduate readers and purchasers of books grew rapidly, as they recognised that here was a man who showed not only insight but conscientiousness in his dealings with them.' F. D. Maurice, Trench, Kingsley, and Professor Hort were among' his early patrons, and he benefited greatly by the recommendations of Archdeacon Hare. In two years' time the Macmillans absorbed the business of Stevenson, one of their leading rivals in Cambridge. In order to provide the necessary capital a partner was taken in, and the firm became Macmillan, Barclay, & Co., but Barclay retired in 1850, and the firm resumed the old style.
In 1844 the idea came to Daniel of expanding the business in the direction of publishing. The advantages of his position for the production of educational works became, more and more apparent, and he turned to this new field with his accustomed energy and caution. Among the first books published by the firm were A. R. Craig's 'Philosophy of Training,' F. D. Maurice's edition of Law's 'Remarks upon the Fable of the Bees' (1844). Boole's 'Mathematical Analysis of Logic' (1847), and Trench's 'Hulsean Lectures' for 1846 and 1846. These were soon followed by Isaac Todhunter's advanced mathematical works and Maurice's 'Theological Essays.' A new departure was made in 1855 with Kingsley s 'Westward Ho!' and a still greater triumph was achieved in April 1857 with 'Tom Brown's School Days,' which passed through five editions before the end of the year. The business throve beyond expectation, and every succeeding year brought further assurance of success, but Macmillan's health was becoming more and more precarious, and he died at Cambridge on 27 June 1867. His strongly marked character—ambitious, devout but not austere, impetuous yet under constant self-restraint—produced a strong impression upon all who came across him. Among the latter was Mr. Thomas Hughes, who in 1882 issued an excellent 'Memoir' (with portrait), incorporating much of Macmillan's characteristic correspondence.
Macmillan married, on 4 Sept. 1860, Frances, daughter of Mr. Orridge, a Cambridge' chemist. A son Frederick was born in 1861, and a second son, Maurice, in 1863. Both sons became partners in the firm.
[Memoir of Daniel Macmillan by Thomas Hughes, Q.C.; Macmillan & Co.'s Bibl. Cat. 1843-1889, with portraits of the two brothers Daniel and Alexander.]
T. S.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.190 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 231 | i | 8 | Macmillan, Daniel: for 1853 read 1835 |
| | | 16 f.e. | after Alexander insert (1818-1896) |