The few obituaries that there are of Fortescue William Millett are rather cursory and incomplete. Now, 90 years later, a rather fuller picture of the man – hitherto, a rather enigmatic figure – and his foraminiferal work is presented, concentrating especially on his later years after his retirement to Cornwall. Millett published two substantial studies, on the foraminifera of the Malay Archipelago and the Pliocene St Erth beds of Cornwall, for which he is best remembered, but most of his other projects appear never to have been completed. His extensive collections and library, much of it in a poor condition, were rescued and conserved by Edward Heron-Allen after his death, and are now in The Natural History Museum, London.