Monty Miller

Louis Montant 'Monty' Miller (1880 - 1929), painted by Nathaniel Hughes John Baird

Louis Montant “Monty” Miller (1880-1929) was the brother of Agatha Christie. Always referred to as "Monty" in the family, he was, like Madge, much older than Agatha. Monty was born in Morristown, New Jersey when his parents were there on a visit to the United States. He returned with his family to England shortly thereafter and lived in Torquay where his father had just bought the house at Ashfield. From 1894-1896 he attended school at Harrow but left prematurely as he was never very scholastic. When the Boer War broke out, Monty joined the army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of The Welsh Regiment. Whilst serving in South Africa a year later, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in The East Surrey Regiment, and was later stationed in India for an extended period. In January 1904, he was promoted to first lieutenant, backdated to October 1903. He resigned from the East Surreys in February 1907. When the First World War broke out, he returned to Africa in October 1914 as a lieutenant in the East Africa Transport Corps, and was later promoted to captain. He was wounded during this conflict and due to faulty medical treatment, received a severe infection which permanently compromised his health.

Interspersed between the years of his military service, Monty was known for trying dubious business schemes which generally failed. Just before World War I, he worked as a professional hunter in East Africa. He later tried to run a cargo boat on Lake Victoria. He raised money in England and began building the Batenga in an Essex shipyard. Unfortunately, by the time the boat was completed, WWI had broken out, and the boat was appropriated by the War Department. After the end of the war, he worked for a safari service in Tanzania for a time but his health deteriorated alarmingly, and he returned to England in early 1922 for medical treatment. After living at Ashfield for a while, and began to causing his family some anxiety because of his erratic behaviour. He became bored and started shooting out of the window at people. This led to complaints and a visit from the police, although Monty seemed to have talked his way out of trouble. He told his family that he yearned to live in Dartmoor where he had "air and space" and "room to breathe". Agatha and Madge purchased a cottage named "Crossways" for him in the Dartmoor village of Throwleigh and also found "the right housekeeper" one Mrs Taylor, who succeeded in keeping him under control. According the Christie, "£800 for the Dartmoor bungalow was a cheap price for Madge and me to have paid."

However, Monty's health continued to deteriorate and in 1929, he and his housekeeper relocated to the milder climate of the French Mediterranean coast where he died shortly thereafter from a stroke. Monty was buried at the military cemetery at Mazargues near Marseilles.

Of Monty, Christie said: "In every family there is usually one member who is a source of trouble and worry. My brother Monty was ours. Until the day of his death he was always causing someone a headache. I have often wondered, looking back, whether there is any niche in life where Monty would have fitted in. He would certainly have been all right if he had been born Ludwig II of Bavaria."

The character of Captain Wyatt who lived in granite bungalow Number 2 in The Sittaford Mystery is probably a cameo of Monty. Wyatt had an Indian servant, just as Monty had a servant from Africa (although in Monty's case, his servant returned to Africa before he moved to Dartmoor). Wyatt also used to take pot shots out of his window with his revolver (at cats, so he claimed) much as Monty did.