Robert Milligan

Robert Milligan (19 August 1746 – 21 May 1809) was a Scottish merchant, ship-owner and slave trader who was the driving force behind the construction and initial statutory sectoral monopoly of the West India Docks in London. From 1768 to 1779 Milligan was a merchant in Kingston, Jamaica. He left Jamaica in 1779 to establish himself in London, where he got married and had a family of eight children. He moved to Hampstead shortly before he died in 1809. By the time of his death, one of Milligan's partnerships had interests in estates in Jamaica which owned 526 slaves in their sugar plantations.

Biography

Milligan was born on 19 August 1746 in Dumfries, Scotland. Between about 1768 and 1779 he was a merchant in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1781 he married Jean Dunbar, with whom he had eight children - five boys and three girls.

In 1808, Milligan moved to a house in Hampstead. He died on 21 May 1809 at his Hampstead home, and he was buried in the local churchyard. which was to have a monopoly on the import into London of West Indian produce such as sugar, rum and coffee for a period of 21 years. The Docks' foundation stone was laid in July 1800, when Milligan was Deputy Chairman of the West India Dock Company – his strong connections with the political establishment of the day were evident from those attending the ceremony, the stone being laid by Lord Chancellor Lord Loughborough and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger as well as Company chairman George Hibbert and himself.

The Docks officially opened just over two years later in August 1802. Milligan later also served as Chairman of the Company.

Memorial

As a token of recognition of the part Milligan played in establishing the West India docks, "the directors and proprietors"..."by unanimous vote" (per its plaque) of the docks company erected a statue of him outside the dock offices.

Milligan has also had a local street named after him: Milligan Street is located near Westferry DLR station, just off Narrow Street, Limehouse.