Ralph Willett Miller
Royal Navy officer
Captain Ralph Willett Miller (24 January 1762 – 14 May 1799) was a Royal Navy officer. He served during the American Revolutionary and the French Revolutionary Wars, eventually rising to the rank of captain. He was one of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's Band of Brothers at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.
Family and early life
Miller was born on 24 January 1762, the son of an American loyalist. His family's allegiance during the American Revolution caused the loss of their property and possessions. Miller was sent to England and entered the navy in 1778, serving aboard HMS Ardent with the fleet under Rear-Admiral James Gambier. He later served during the war as part of fleets under Samuel Barrington, George Rodney, Samuel Hood and Thomas Graves. He fought in a number of engagements, and was wounded three times. He served under Commodore William Hotham, and after the Battle of Fort Royal, Miller was promoted by Rodney to be lieutenant aboard HMS Terrible. He was present at the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781, during which the Terrible was badly damaged, and later scuttled.
The public source identifies “Ralph Willett Miller” as royal Navy officer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ralph, Willett and Miller.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ralph Willett Miller” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.