# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Milward, John

​MILWARD, JOHN (1556–1609), divine, born in 1556, was a member of the Cambridgeshire family of that name. He was admitted a scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, 5 Nov. 1579, graduated B.A., and then appears to have matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, 23 Nov. 1581, aged 25, proceeding B.A. on 19 Jan. 1582, and M.A. and D.D. in 1584 (Oxf. Univ. Reg., Oxf. Hist. Soc. vol. ii. pt. i. p.17, pt. ii. p. 105, pt. iii. p. 100). He may have been the John Milward presented on 17 Jan. 1590-1 to the vicarage of Dullingham, Cambridgeshire (Gibbons, Ely Episcopal Records, p. 447), and, 28 Dec. 1596, by Lord North to the vicarage of Bovey Tracey, Devonshire. About 1605 he became rector of Passenham, Northamptonshire (Bridges, Northamptonshire, i. 307). On 8 Nov.1608 he was presented by the mayor, commonalty, and citizens of London to the rectory of St. Margaret Pattens, Billingsgate ward. About 1605 he was defeated in a contest for the office of lecturer at Christ Church, Newgate Street, by William Bradshaw [q. v.]; he was, however, subsequently appointed (see his will, and cf. Clarke, Lives, 1677, ii. 45).
Soon after the accession of James I Milward was appointed one of his chaplains, and on 5 Aug. 1607 he was commanded to preach a thanksgiving sermon at St. Paul's for the deliverance of his majesty from the Gowrie conspiracy [see Ruthven]. Milward's sermon, which was printed, under the title of ‘Jacob's Great Day of Trouble and Deliverance,’ with a preface by Matthias Milward (see below), London, 1610, is an ingenious parody of the life of Jacob, full of witty and classical allusions.
In April 1609 Milward was ordered to visit Scotland, in company with Dr. William Goodwin [q. v.], in order to aid in the reestablishment of episcopacy. The Earl of Dunfermline, writing to the king on 5 July 1609, testifies to the great contentment and satisfaction ‘your highnes twa chaplaynes, Doctor Goodwin and Doctor Milwaird, hes given to all in this cuntrie in their doctrine, boithe in learning, eloquence, and godliness’ (Letters and State Papers of James VI, Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1838, p. 169). An annuity of a hundred marks was granted him on 15 April 1609, in recognition of his services (Warrant Book, James I).
Milward died in the house of the lord chancellor, the Earl of Dunfermline, Edinburgh, on 1 Aug. 1609. He married Agnes How the younger, and left a son, James, and two daughters, Mary and Margaret. He owned at the time of his death houses in Warwick Lane, in the city of London, and at Hertford, as well as land at Sutton, Cambridgeshire.
Milward, Matthias (fl. 1603–1641), younger brother of the preceding, scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, and curate of Wentworth, Cambridgeshire, in 1600 (Ely Episc. Rec. p. 371), was presented by James I to the rectory of East Barnet, Hertfordshire, on 18 May 1603. A successor was appointed in 1639 (Newcourt, i. 806). He was admitted a member of Gray's Inn on 1 Nov. 1624 (Foster, Admissions, p. 174). He was afterwards rector of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, London. On 31 Aug. 1641 he preached at St. Michael's, Cornhill, to the Company of Artillery, Thomas Soame, colonel, a sermon which was printed under the title of ‘The Souldiers Triumph and the Preachers Glory,’ 1641, and was dedicated to Prince Charles. He died before 1648. He married, on 28 March 1605, Anne Evans of Cripplegate (Chester, Marr. Licenses, p. 927). A son Joseph, born at Barnet in 1621, was a scholar of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (Venn, Admissions, p. 198).
Another John Milward (1619–1683), nonconformist divine, son of George Milward, gentleman, of Shepton Mallet, Somerset, was born there in 1619. He matriculated at New Inn Hall, Oxford, on 16 March 1637-8, graduated B.A. on 1 July 1641, was elected a fellow of Corpus Christi College, and was created M.A. on 14 April 1648. He was appointed a delegate of visitors in 1649, and soon afterwards was made rector of the first mediety of the living of Darfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire, but was ejected about 1660. His successor, Robert Rogers, was instituted on 9 Nov. 1661. Milward then settled in London, and occasionally preached at the morning exercises in Cripplegate.
Two of his sermons, entitled ‘How ought we to love our neighbours as ourselves?’ ‘How ought we to do our duty towards others, though they do not do theirs towards us?’ were published by Samuel Annesley [q. v.] in ‘The Morning Exercises,’ &c., 1676 and 1683 (cf. 5th edit. ed. Nicholls, 6 vols. 1844). Milward died unmarried at Islington, London, in 1683. By his will he left sums for books to the Bodleian and the library of ​Corpus Christi, also to ten ejected ministers, or their wives or families, five of Yorkshire and five of Somerset. He directed that his funeral expenses should not exceed 30l., and divided the remainder between his brother, Daniel Milward, merchant, of London, and his sisters Katherine Stephens and Anne Burnell.
C. F. S.