Joseph Robert Milner was born in Earlsheaton, Dewsbury, Yorkshire June 1926, the son of Robert Fred Archer Milner, a wood machinist, and Ellen nee Tolson, a weaver when she was young.

Even at a very young age, Bob loved to roam the countryside and showed a great interest in nature. Perhaps it was this that inspired him to take up drawing and painting at the early age of eight. The photo at right is Robert at Earlsheaton Junior School, Dewsbury, Yorkshire, at seven years of age.

Bob attended Infant and Junior schools in Earlsheaton from 1931 to 1937, and Wheelwright Grammer School in Dewsbury from 1937 to 1944. Bob states he received virtually no training in art, and at the junior stage he says, "We just got on with it. At Grammer school we did "Art" for one year only. The master had, I believe, a bit of a name in the professional world, but he taught us nothing about technique.In fact, he slighted one or two pictures I produced which other kids thought good." The handiest tip Bob received was from his wife Helen, who had been to Art College. That was the advice to use plenty of white when painting with oils.

When I asked Bob when he started painting he stated, "When I was about eight, I suppose, ie:1934, but the oldest work worth keeping dates from 1942. I had others in a folio which I left with a friend when I went abroad in 1945, so that he could choose one as a present. When I came home in late 1947, he had "gone away" and apparently lost my pictures in the removal. I have continued painting from time to time to record particularly happy places. The mental effort required is greater but usually I have the next picture in mind."

I asked Bob if he had ever met James Russell the artist (1867-1956). Bob said, "I knew about him, though for some of his paintings were displayed in the Horse and Hound, and I had an artist friend who knew him quite well and used to pass on to me accounts of poaching, etc."

During World War 2, Bob served in the Army from Sept. 1944 to March 1948. He was stationed in India and Burma performing primarily clerical duties.

After the war from 1948 to 1963 Bob worked in forestry, farming and gardening in Scotland, Isle of Man and in Yorkshire after which he pursued a career in teaching. From 1963 to 1981 he trained as a teacher and taught in various Primary and Middle schools in Leeds, principally Science.

In 1982 Bob retired and is kept busy gardening, writing articles on walking and local history, drawing and painting, roaming the countryside, photography, researching family history, etc. He enjoys classical music, poetry, botany, cricket, railroads, etc.