The following article appeared in The East Kent Gazette on the 2nd of December 1992.

It is with deep regret that we have to record the death of the Rev. J. S. McMillan, Vicar of Hartlip, which took place with tragic suddenness on Tuesday morning. The rev. gentleman left the vicarage at Hartlip, in apparently excellent health and in good spirits, intending to walk to Rainham Station to catch the 9.25 train. On nearing the station, however, he was that the train was already in the station. He commenced to run, and had taken about two steps on to the platform, when he collapsed and died almost immediately. The Stationmaster, Mr. W. J. Best, at once went to his assistance, and Dr. Symonds was sent for. Nothing could be done, however, and Mrs. McMillan having been sent for, the deceased gentleman was conveyed to Hartlip. By a remarkable coincidence, Mr. McMillan was 63 on Tuesday, which was also the anniversary of his wedding day. It was not thought necessary to hold an inquest, as Mr. McMillan had suffered from heart trouble for some time and it was the exertion of running to catch the train which caused sudden heart failure. The occurrence caused no little consternation among the station officials, and others who witnessed the tragedy, and Police-Sergeant Fittall and Mr. Best quietly made all necessary arrangements for the body to be conveyed back to Hartlip by motor car.

Last year Mr. McMillan had a severe attack of influenza and pneumonia, and this no doubt left a weakness of he heart. His medical attendant was able to certify the cause of death.

Mr. McMillan, by a strange coincidence, died on his 63rd birthday, and also on the anniversary of his wedding day, he having been married for 21 years.

The Vicar was a Scotsman, his father being Dr. McMillan, who had a practice near Glasgow. The Vicar himself studied for the medical profession, but afterwards he abandoned it and entered the Church of England. He was ordained in 1898, at the age of 39, and was appointed Curate of St. Nicholas, Strood, in the same year, and he held this appointment until 1904, when the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed him Vicar of Hartlip, and he had had the living for 18 years. During his career as a clergyman he held only one curacy, and one benefice.

Mr. McMillan married the eldest daughter of he late Mr. Robert Lake Cobb, of Higham, Rochester, and Mrs. McMillan is sister of Mr. Herbert Mansfield Cobb, the head of the well-known Kent firm of auctioneers and land agents.

The gentleman whose death is generally mourned was quiet and unobtrusive, and of a courtly demeanour. To those who knew him intimately he was a genial friend, and he possessed a dry humour. He was a faithful minister, always solicitous of the needs of his parishioners, looking after them in their troubles, and taking a personal interest in each one, old or young. Mr. McMillan was a man of a broad mind, and he worked harmoniously with his Nonconformist friends, by whom his death is deplored as much as by his own people. The Vicar was a good Churchman, and he initiated many ways of bringing Christian truths to the hearts of his parishioners. The beautiful service on Rogation Day each year, a feature of Church life at Hartlip, and his death is a loss to the community.

The funeral will take place to-day (Saturday), at Hartlip, at two p.m.