Miller, Dr. John Ormsby

On November 29, 1888, at the first meeting of the provisional Board of Governors, it was recommended that the Reverend John Ormsby Miller be named as the founding principal of Ridley. He immediately created an educational manifesto that outlined "The only true education is that which develops the threefold nature of the child, symmetrically." The threefold to which he referred were the moral, intellectual and physical nature of a student. The Headmaster found time to devise a school motto, choose school colours, and design the school insignia. His first major task, before the school even opened, was to raise a significant amount of money to transform Springbank from a high-end health resort into a boy's boarding school. By late spring they had raised $49,000 to be used to retrofit the first school buildings. Miller was also tasked with hiring the staff for the school. In September 1889, Ridley opened its doors for the very first time. Miller served Ridley faithfully for 32 years; he saw the school through economic depression at the turn of the century, the great fire of 1903, and the rebuilding of the school, the birth of the Cadet Corps and WWI. In June 1920, Miller took a one year leave of absence from the school and chose to travel the world. On February 23, 1921 he sent his letter of resignation to the Board of Governors. This "cleric, teacher and scholar who had moulded Ridley College" died on November 17, 1936. Truly a man who lived the motto to which he gave the school he loved so dearly "May I be consumed in service" it can easily be said that there is not a student who has passed through the halls of Ridley who has not been affected by all of the efforts Dr. Miller put into those founding years of the school.