Solving the Mystery of Barbara Mills... by Telephone

After catching up with my incoming mail, it's time to go back to something I'd started before I left for Michigan: There's more to be gleaned from the British telephone directories.

A caveat would be that just because a person's name is on a telephone in a certain location at a certain time, it doesn't mean that the person in question is actually there. A case in point would be the fact that my mother never took her phone out of my father's name after he passed away in 1997. It stayed that way until she also left us in 2004. That telephone number stayed Dad's for an additional 7 years after his death.

We can assume, however, that it is in someone's interest to keep paying for a telephone number listed in a certain location. I think we can also assume that when a telephone listing moves, the person, persons, or that "interest" moves along with it.

That said, there's still much to be learned from the London listings that we've already looked at in terms of the nuclear family of Reverend Barton R. V. Mills through 1925, and then the listings for "G. R. A. Mills" after his wedding in that same year—listings that may or may not have been listings for the George Mills with which we're concerned.

In the April 1925 London directory [pictured, above left], the number of George's brother Captain Arthur H. Mills [Victoria 2285, listed at 91A Ebury st., S.W.1] is marked by handwriting on the page's margin: "R120 27/6."

The only other listing marked by hand is that of George's father, Rev. Barton R. V. Mills [Kensington 2397, listed at 38 Onslow Gardens S.W.7], designated by what appears to be: "Kx R 27/7."

Why those listings had been singled out to be marked by the telephone company is a mystery because one subsequently changed and the other did not. Could the notes it have to do with a change in billing? Barton Mills is ostensibly retired at this point, immersed in his research about St. Bernard. Arthur, on the other hand, has begun to make a name for himself as an author, having just published his sixth book in the past four years. His wife, Lady Dorothy Mills, had also published five books during that same span of time. Perhaps Arthur has taken on the cost of his father's telephone.

Regardless, Arthur's listing remains the same in the October 1925 London directory [right], but Barton's listing is changed to "Sloane ….. 3278 Mills Rev. Barton R. V. .. .. .. .. 24 Hans rd S.W.3."

That listing for Rev. Barton R. V. Mills stayed in place through 1931. Barton Mills passed away suddenly, however, on 21 January 1932 in London.

The 1932 London directory contains a new listing for that address and telephone number: Mrs. Barton Mills.

In 1933, the telephone number for Mrs. Barton Mills remains the same—SLOane 3278—but the address changes. The new address is 21 Cadogan Gardens, S.W.3.

That's an address we already know. It was associated with Agnes and Violet Mills at the time of the death of Major Reginald Ramsay Wingate, DCLI, in March 1938. He was a relative on their mother's side of the family, and had passed away in Cornwall. At Maj. Wingate's funeral, you may recall, flowers had been received from "Misses Barbara, Agnes, and Violet Mills (Cadogen Gardens S.W.)."

Cadogan Gardens is in Kensington, where Major Wingate's mother was living in 1938 at the age of 90, so a close connection between the two families at that time is easy to see.

The real impact of the juxtaposition of this telephone listing and the Major Wingate's obituary is that it apparently clarifies the mystery of who, exactly, Barbara Mills was!

We've experienced the fact that clerks like census enumerators, and even 21st century digitizers, often end up with things spelled incorrectly. Let's take a look at who would have ordered the flowers for the Wingate funeral in Cornwall.

The telephone listing at 21 Cadogan Gardens, S.W. [and we can see that somewhere between London and the publication of the newspaper obituary in Cornwall (left), "Cadogan" has changed in spelling to "Cadogen"], in 1938 was in the name of "Mrs. Barton Mills."

The flowers were sent from "Misses Barbara, Agnes, and Violet Mills."

Let's assume they were ordered by telephone, with a bill subsequently being sent from Cornwall to London. The person taking the message was told the flowers were from "Mrs. Barton, Agnes, and Violet Mills," but mistakenly heard "Misses Barbara, Agnes, and Violet Mills," and wrote the latter on the card. What difference an incorrectly transcribed syllable can make!

Until the existence of an actual relative named Barbara Mills comes to light, this is probably the best explanation for "Barbara's" kindness in sending flowers to that funeral—she was actually Edith [Mrs. Barton] Mills!

The combination of the card pinned on those flowers and that current telephone listing also tells us something else: Spinsters Agnes and Violet Mills still live with their mother in 1938. Married brother George [getting ready to publish his second book, King Willow], and his wife, Vera, obviously do not.

The listing for Mrs. Barton Mills [SLOane 3278; 21 Cadogan gdns, S.W.3] stays in place in the London directories until its last appearance in the 1947 book.

In an entry posted here yesterday, however, we discovered that Elizabeth Edith [Mrs. Barton] Mills passed away near the end of the calendar year 1945. We must assume that the phone at 21 Cadogan Gardens remained in her name afterwards, with the bill being paid by her "estate," in the persons of Agnes and Violet.

By 1947, Agnes would have been 52 years old, and Violet, 45. Being spinsters who were interested in the "Girl Guides," and with no mother [who'd been born, married, and died there in Kensington] to keep them in London, it would be no surprise to find that the girls might head out of town, into the countryside, to live out their Golden Years.

1947 also finds these additions to the British Library's Manuscripts Catalogue: "Ramsay (George Dalhousie) of the War Office; knt. 1900. Correspondence and papers 1835-1898," and "Papers of G. D. Ramsay rel. to the Royal Army Clothing Dept. 1855-1898," Add. 46446 – 46450.

The donors of those manuscripts? "Mills (Agnes Edith). Miss. grand-daughter of Sir G. D. Ramsay. Presented, jointly with Miss V. E. Mills 1947," and "Mills (Violet Eleanor). Miss. grand-daughter of Sir G. D. Ramsay. Presented, jointly with Miss A. E. Mills 1947."

It seems that the girls had been busy cleaning out 21 Cadogan Gardens following their mother's passing, and finally arranging a place for the papers of Sir George Dalhousie Ramsay, their maternal grandfather, to reside in perpetuity [right].

It's notable that, as in the case of the flowers sent to Major Wingate's funeral in Cornwall some dozen years before, the name of George Mills—in 1947, then five years a widower and four years past the relinquishing of his service commission in the Royal Army Pay Corps—is not one of the donors.

There's no reason to believe that George was not close to his sisters, but the evidence suggests that he was not living with them in 1938 or in 1947. The 1947 London directory alone has at least eight listings for a "George" or "G." Mills, all of whom could very well could be the George Mills of our interest.

Nevertheless, the "Misses Mills" appear to be heading out of town in 1947, and there's good reason to believe we know exactly where they went—and that location has been tied intimately to our George Ramsay Acland Mills as well.

But we'll examine that another time. For now, let's just be satisfied with solving the previously perplexing puzzle, "Who in the world was Barbara Mills?"

An Overwhelming Sense of Millsness...

Ironically, one huge roadblock in trying to search the internet for "George Mills" is the myriad of references to Stanley Elkin's 1982 book entitled George Mills that are strewn along the path. As if there weren't already a seemingly endless array of George Millses festooning the worldwide web, every bookseller has a page for the award-winning book, and some for the author, Elkin, as well, adding to the cacophony of on-line G.M. references.

On the George Mills page at amazon.com, Elkins's book is described: "An ambitious‚ digressive‚ and endlessly entertaining account of the thousand-year history of the George Millses‚ GEORGE MILLS is the antithesis to the typical Horatio Alger story. Since the First Crusade‚ there has always been a George Mills‚ who—despite his best efforts—is unable to improve his position in life or that of his descendants... But the latest in the long line of George Millses may also be the last‚ as he obsesses about his family’s history and determines that he will be the one to break this doomed cycle."

So, it appears that I've actually decided to winnow out the proverbial needle in a haystack: An unknown man whose only identifiable characteristic—his name, George Mills—makes him one of a litany of the indistinguishable so lengthy that it's become the gold standard of anonymity, at least according to Elkin!

Elkin won the 1982 National Book Critics Circle Award for George Mills. In that same year, the New York Times book review by Leslie Epstein asks the same question of Elkins's book that we focus on here: "WHO, then, is this George Mills?"

The review continues, with my emphasis: "By the middle of the book… we know this much about him: He is married, childless, fiftyish, employed by a company that specializes in dispossessing ghetto blacks… What distinguishes him, at least in his own eyes, is, first, his conviction that he is saved, and then his overwhelming sense of 'Millsness,' the burden of his family history, which hangs over his head like a curse."

Apparently what I'm now trying to work around is this 'overwhelming sense of Millsness', which in 1982 had to have been more of a sensibility than a fact that internet search engines can now confirm. I mean George Mills is found on far more websites than that paradigm of ultimate anonymity, John Doe, according to altavista.com's search engine [142,000,000 results to 31,900,000 results .

Yes, trying to tease one, single George Mills out of the boundless fabric of the internet won't be easy—even a Mills who's actually a published, 20th century author with four volumes residing on the shelves of the British Library alongside the Magna Charta and the Lindisfarne Gospels, for cryin' out loud!

Now that's anonymity! Still, I intend to continue to try to unravel the answer to the seemingly impenetrable question: "WHO, then, is this George Mills?"

Meredith and Co. Arrives Par Avion!

Meredith and Co. by George Mills arrived today via Royal Mail [par avion] from Chapter House Books in Shelbourne, Dorset, in the U.K. Here are the details on this edition:

Sales Order No.: 68472860

Bookseller: Chapter House Books (Member of the PBFA)

Payment Processed By: Abebooks

Estimated Delivery Date: May 26, 2010

Author: George Mills

Title: Meredith and Co

Bookseller Book No.: 5685

Book Description: The Viscount Series. Fair in fair, well worn, torn and plastic protected d/w. Spine cocked, cloth crinkled, edge of boards faded and bumped, corners bumped, owner's inscription (dated 1957) on fep, front hinge weak, pages browned, spotting to endpapers, gatherings strained.

Date Processed: March 3, 2010

*** Your special instructions to the bookseller: Thank you! Also, if there is anything you can tell me about the author, George Mills, I would very much appreciate knowing it. Biographical information on the internet has been difficult to find.

In an email time-stamped that same day, Wednesday, March 03, 2010, 4:15 PM, Claire Porter of Chapter House Books [pictured, right] responded to my request for info, and flatlined my search for information about G.M., at least from her direction:

Sam

Thank you for your prompt response, the book went in the post today. I am afraid that I haven't been able to find anything out about the author, sorry.

Many thanks for the order

Regards
Claire

That's okay, Claire. It can't always be 84 Charing Cross Road, you know. The book you've sold me itself has some peculiar clues in it that I'll try to unravel in another posting here.

Meanwhile, let's look at some basics. This edition is from the "Viscount Series" intended "For Boys and Girls", published by Andrew Dakers Ltd., Spring House, Spring Place, London NW5, although it was "Printed in Czechoslovakia". Other titles in the series are listed as Ace Carew, The Black Ghost, Dangerous Road, Mystery at Gull's Nest, Shy Girl at Southdown, Jenny's Exciting Term, and Jenny of the Fourth. It has 232 pages, one full-color frontispiece printed on glossy paper opposite the title page, and three black & white illustrations.

My undated edition of King Willow was published by Spring Books, Spring House, Spring Place, London NW5, and also printed in Czechoslovakia. King Willow is listed as part of the "Fanfare Series" intended "for boys and girls". Other titles in the series include The Kestrels Plot Adventure, Tom Merry & Co. of St. Jim's, The Hoax of a Lifetime, The Mysterious Orchard, Judy's Triumph, The Secret of the Red Mill, and The Unknown Adventurer. It has 256 pages, one full-color plate opposite the title page, and three black & white illustrations. King Willow is ostensibly a sequel to Meredith and Co., with many of the same characters.

The overall quality of the printing is much better in King Willow than Meredith and Co., despite the fact that what appears to have been the same publisher printed both books in post-war Czechoslovakia.

The dust-jacket art for Meredith is simply a very poorly registered four-color copy of the color plate found inside the book. Willow features a full-color dust jacket with original art that is not found anywhere within the text.

The full-color art in King Willow is signed "Tom Thursby". The single full-color plate in Meredith and Co. is simply signed "Vernon". None of the black & white illustrations from either book are signed by the pen-and-ink artist.

It's difficult to tell if the total six B&W illustrations in both books were drawn by the same hand. The art in Meredith seems to be highly stylized to resemble woodcuts, while in Willow, the drawings are executed with far more modern and organic brush work executed along with the pen.

This 1957 edition of Meredith and Co. appears to be the same as that found in the collection of the British Library: Meredith and Co.; Andrew Dakers: London; printed in Czechoslovakia, 1957. Although there is no publication date, an owner's inscription reads: "to Mark with love from Paul. Xmas 1957". Or is that "7" perhaps a "4"...?

The most recent edition of King Willow on the shelves of the British Library is: King Willow (New edition); Oxford University Press: London, 1951. My copy is clearly not that edition, probably being an even newer "New edition".

So, circumstantial evidence seems to point to the fact that Andrew Dakers Ltd. and Spring Books may be the same publisher, sharing the same address in London and outsourcing printing to Czechoslovakia. Each sold a series of books "for boys and girls" by an array of authors, one called "Viscount" [emblazoned upon a crown], the other "Fanfare" [displayon a banner hanging from heraldic trumpets]. Both publishers neglected to date their publications. Are these publishers truly one and the same? If you have any information, I'd love to have it as well, please!

Regarding the illustrations, "Tom Thursby" handled color art for King Willow, and someone named "Vernon" did the color plate for the 1957 edition of Meredith and Co. Who, though, is "Vernon", and who did the six B&W illustrations for these texts? Have the B&W and/or color plates simply been re-used exactly as they were in the original editions of the two books, first published in the 1930s, or were they newly commisioned for these reprinted editions?

As always, if you have any information on "Vernon", or anything else, please leave it in the "comments" section of this entry, or e-mail it to me—and thanks!

George Mills in the British Library

These are titles attributed to George Mills held in the collection of the British Library. Mills is listed as a "Writer of Tales for Boys". Each title is listed exactly as it apears in their database, along with its year of publication and its shelfmark:

• King Willow, etc. , 1938 , 12821.bb.9

• King Willow. (New edition) , 1951, 12834.aa.28

• Meredith and Co. , 1957, X.990/4427

• Meredith and Co. The story of a modern preparatory school, etc. [With plates.] , 1933, 20053.ee.1

• Minor and Major ... Illustrated by John Harris. , 1939, 012807.ff.83

The next and final entry is actually listed under this author: MILLS, George, Thomas, à Becket, Saint, 1118?-1170 1939 to ----

• St. Thomas of Canterbury. , 1939, 20030.e.136

I find it odd that "Saint Thomas, à Becket" is listed as a co-author of that 1939 book, especially since his year of death is given as 1170. I'm not sure how the British Library figures that, except that the book may also contain excerpts of writing by St. Thomas himself, along with that of Mills.

What's even more peculiar is what a hard time I'm having locating a copy of St. Thomas of Canterbury on the internet. Anyone with any ideas, or a copy to sell, please contact me--and thanks!

King Willow Arrives!

Besides finding information about this mysterious George Mills, I want to read all of his books. For a start, I've already received:

King Willow; Spring Books, London; printed in Czechoslovakia, Undated. [Illustrated by Tom Thursby]

I ordered it from Paperbackbookshop.co.uk Ltd., in Gloucestershire on 6 February, 2010, but it was shipped a prior from a P.O. box at the Brussels Airport in Belgium/Belgique/Belgie. My wife, Janet, ordered it for me, so I don’t actually know what it cost. It arrived on 25 February. The dust jacket lists it as a title in Spring Books' "Fanfare Series" for youths. It’s 256 pages and contains no copyright date.

This doesn’t appear to be a copy of either of the two editions of King Willow available on the shelves of the British Library. Those editions are:

King Willow, etc.; G. G. Harrap & Co.: London, 1938.

King Willow (New edition); Oxford University Press: London, 1951.

If anyone out there has any idea of the publication date of my undated 'Spring Books' edition, about the seemingly-defunct publisher [Spring Books], about Mills himself, or about the illustrator [Thursby], I certainly would appreciate the information!