died about 700, but this is a vague guess, and seems too early. Her festival is 13 July in the Roman calendar. She was succeeded as abbess by Eadburga, who translated her body [see under Eadburga or Bugga, d. 751]. Minster was destroyed by the Danes in 1011, and its destruction led to a dispute as to the possession of St. Mildred's body. The convent of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, asserted that the place of her burial was known to and kept secret by the people of Thanet, and that it was revealed to their abbot Elfstan, who with Canute's leave, and after the king's return from Rome, translated it to St. Augustine's. There it was more than once moved and worked miracles, the day of her deposition being kept there on 20 Feb. On the other hand, the canons of St. Gregory's, Canterbury, declared that they had the body, that it had been translated to Liming by Eadburga, a daughter of Ethelbert of Kent, and had thence been removed and given to their house by Archbishop Lanfranc. With reference to this dispute Goscelin [q. v.] wrote his ‘Libellus contra usurpatores S. Mildrithæ,’ and Thorn describes the history of the saint and her relics ‘contra Gregorianos corpus beatæ virginis Mildredæ fallaciter usurpantes.’ Parker notes churches dedicated to St. Mildred at Preston and Canterbury in Kent, two in London, and another at Whippingham, Isle of Wight, to which must be added one at Oxford now destroyed (Anglican Church Calendar, p. 264; Wood, City of Oxford, ii. 94–7). The earliest mention of St. Mildred is, Bishop Stubbs notes, in the attestation of the privilege granted by Wihtred, king of Kent, between 696 and 716, if the document be genuine (Ecclesiastical Documents, iii. 240). The charters in which her name occurs, given by Thorn, Elmham, and in the ‘Codex Diplomaticus,’ are not perhaps sufficiently authoritative to demand references here (see Bishop Stubbs, as below). Her life has been written by Goscelin, Thorn, and Capgrave.
[Acta SS. Bolland. July, iii. 485–96; Thorn's Chron. of St. Augustine's ap. Decem SS. ed. Twysden; Elmham (Rolls Ser.); Flor. Wig. Geneal. i. 265 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Symeon of Durham's Gesta Regum, ap. Opp. ii. (Rolls Ser.); William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum, i. 78, 268, and Gesta Pontiff. pp. 7, 306 (Rolls Ser.); Hardy's Cat. Mat. i. 376–84 (Rolls Ser.); Parker's Anglican Church Calendar; Wood's City of Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc.); Dict. Chr. Biog., art. by Bishop Stubbs, with notices of the charters bearing on the subject.]
MILES. [See also Milles.]
MILES de Gloucester, Earl of Hereford (d. 1143). [See Gloucester.]
MILES, EDWARD (d. 1798), miniature-painter, was a native of Yarmouth, where he began life as an errand-boy to Giles Wakeman, a surgeon in that town. He showed a talent for drawing, which was encouraged by his master, and after receiving sufficient patronage from friends in Yarmouth, he came to London in 1771. He was introduced to and favourably received by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and copied some of his pictures. Miles quickly obtained some repute as a miniature-painter. He first lived in Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, but subsequently removed to Berkeley Street, Berkeley Square, where he obtained much aristocratic patronage. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1775 to 1797. In 1792 he was appointed miniature-painter to the Duchess of York, and in 1794 to Queen Charlotte, whose portrait he painted. One of his last works was a portrait of the Emperor Alexander of Russia, which was presented to the Earl of Liverpool. Miles paid frequent visits to Yarmouth, where he died in 1798.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Palmer's Perlustration of Great Yarmouth, ii. 412.]
MILES, GEORGE FRANCIS, known as Frank Miles (1852–1891), painter, born on 22 April 1852, was sixth and youngest son of Robert Henry William Miles, rector of Bingham in Nottinghamshire, by Mary, daughter of the Rev. J. J. Cleaver (afterwards Peach); he was grandson of Philip John Miles, M.P., of Leigh Court, near Bristol. Miles studied art at home, being encouraged by his parents and family, who possessed strong artistic tendencies themselves. There are examples of their skill in art in the church at Bingham. Miles afterwards studied on the continent, and worked for some time in Wales, where he painted a picture, ‘An Ocean Coast, Llangravia, Carnarvonshire,’ which was well hung in the Royal Academy. He subsequently settled in London, first in Salisbury Street and later in Tite Street, Chelsea. His work soon gained repute, and several pictures found their way into the Royal Academy, one of them, ‘A Flower Girl,’ being purchased by the Prince of Wales. He had a good practice also as a portrait-painter, painting the Princess of Wales and other members of her family, besides such noted men as Charles Questel, J. L. Dyckmans, Nathan Hughes, and others. But he was best known for a series of pretty portrait studies of female heads, which were reproduced cheaply, and commanded an immense popularity and sale. He was a devoted student of Japanese art, and also of botany, which led him to study the
