Martin Milner

Martin Milner OBE (17 February 1928 – 21 June 2000) was an English violinist. From 1958 to 1987 he was leader of the Hallé Orchestra.

Life Milner was born in Bolton in 1928; his father was a headteacher and organiser of the Bolton Youth Orchestra. He was educated at Bolton School, and went on to study at the Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM), where his violin professors were Henry Holst and Thomas Matthews. He also studied in Denmark with Emil Telmányi.

In 1946 he joined the first violin section of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He subsequently taught at the RMCM;

Family and later years He was married three times; with his first wife Elizabeth Walton (niece of William Walton, and pianist at the RMCM) he had three sons and three daughters. With his third wife Diana Wanklyn, principal double-bass player in the Hallé, who survived him, he had three sons.

Milner died in 2000, aged 72, at his home in Didsbury in Manchester, after a long illness.