Hugh Miller: Stonemason, Geologist, Writer

Hugh Miller was born in 1802 in Cromarty, Ross-shire. He started his
working life as a stonemason’s apprentice; he later became a social
commentator and crusader. He also inspired in others an interest in
fossils. His was a household name in his lifetime, not only in Scotland
but across the English-speaking world.
Michael Taylor’s biography – the first synoptic reassessment to draw
upon new research – quotes generous chunks of Miller’s own (very
readable) writings and covers the full range of Hugh Miller, from
stonemason, through geologist and editor to private family man, with
a surprising conclusion regarding his suicide in 1856.