Mr. Egerton Clarke: Meet the Parents

Moving along to other matters, we come to Mr. Egerton Clarke. Clarke may be the most closely related person to George Mills we've examined for a while. Sometimes, this research can go far afield in an effort to provide context for the life of Mills, but in this case, the two men must have been friends, perhaps close friends.

In order to fully understand Egerton and relate him to Mills, we first have to examine his family of origin and that's what we'll be doing today.

Egerton Arthur Crossman Clarke was born in Canterbury, Kent, in 1899, the son of Percy Carmichael Clarke (1842 – 1902), then Chaplain in Dinard, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France, who was the son of London stock broker John Jeffkins Clarke, who was born in Islington, and Fanny Jane Crossman, of Exmouth, Devon.

Percy Clarke was baptised on 12 January 1843, and the document lists his birth date as 4 May 1842 (Other records indicate his birth date was 22 May). His father's occupation is listed as "Gent."

The 1861 census lists Percy's parents' ages as John, 44, and Fanny, 40, in that year.

Percy attended Cambridge [above, left] and his entry in Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 reads:

Percy Carmichael Clarke. College: TRINITY HALL Entered: Michs. 1860 More Information: Adm. pens. (age 18) at TRINITY HALL, July 26, 1860. S. of J. J. C., Esq. Matric. Michs. 1860. Ord. deacon, 1871; priest (Chichester) 1872; V. of Stapleford, Sussex, 1875-84. R. of St Michael-at-Plea, Norwich, 1886-95. Chaplain at Dinard, 1895-1902. Disappears from Crockford, 1903.

On 30 January 1868, at the age of 25, Percy married Sophia Austen, daughter of foreign merchant Henry Rains, at All Souls, Langham Place, Westminster. The marriage Bann [right] only lists Percy Carmichael Clarke as being "of full age," with his profession being "gentleman" residing in that parish in the county of Middlesex.

The ceremony was witnessed by Sophia's father, her elder brother Rupert Rains, her elder half-sister Ann Sarah Rains, and Percy's brothers, Arthur Doveton Clarke and Egerton Harry John Clarke. Their signatures are all legible on the document.

Sophia Rains Austen Clarke was presumably a widow and older than Percy by 11 years. She appears on the 1871 census [below, left], living at home with her "foreign warehouserman" father, Henry, her mother, and her sisters. She was 38 at the time of that census, making 1833 her approximate birth year. She also was living with her daughter, Florence L. Austen, then aged 8 years.

Percy's new wife came with an instant family, and one of international pedigree. Sophia apparently was born in India, but there are no records to substantiate that. Little Florence was, indeed, born in Paddington, New South Wales, to her mother and her father, Benjamin Rupert Austen, gentleman, in 1863. Benjamin and Sophia had been married in London on 19 March 1861. Benjamin died in Paddington, NSW, in 1865, and Sophia had returned to England with their child.

Newlywed Percy doesn't appear in the 1871 census (according to ancestry.com). Sophia and Florence were living with her father, Henry, in that year, during which Percy was ordained a deacon.

In 1881 [right], however, we do find him living with his wife, Sophia, and stepdaughter, Florence, at the Vicarage in Staplefield, Sussex, in the Parish of Cuckfield, where he was "Vicar of St. Marks Staplefield." They had no children of their own at this time.

Sophia Clarke passed away in Norwich, Norfolk, on 7 October 1887 at the age of 54.

Her will was probated on 21 December. The notice reads: "21 December. The Will of Sophia Clarke (Wife of Percy Carmichael Clarke, Clerk) formerly of Cliffdown-grange-road Eastbourne in the county of Sussex, but late of St. Michael –at-Plea Norwich in the County of Norfolk who died 7 October 1887 at the Rectory St. Michael-at-Plea was proved at the Principal Registry by Rubert [sic] Rains of 25 Sylvester–road Hackney in the County of Middlesex Manufacturer the Brother and the said reverend Percy Carmichael Clarke of St. Michael-at-Plea the Executors."

Sophia's personal estate was proved at £1,807 5s. 11d., and resworn in December 1888 at £2,688 15s. 7 d.

Now here's an oddity based on the above information:

In 1887 or late in the spring (April-May-June) of 1888 (ancestry.com lists both years, but I only have seen the actual record for 1888), Clarke married Emma Anna Piper, daughter of farmer Francis Caton Piper and Hannah Parsey, who woked 130 acres at Hare Street Village, Royston, Hertfordshire (or Great Hormead, Hertfordshire in 1887). Clarke recently had moved to the living at St. Michael-at-Plea in Norwich, Norfolk [below, left] in 1886.

One way or the other, it didn't take Percy long to climb back into the marital saddle again, as they say.

Marriage records for Emma Piper cite the same pair of 1887 and 1888 dates for her nuptials. Given Sophia Clarke's death in October 1887, the 1888 date may seem more likely—but is it possible there was a quick ceremony late in 1887 that wasn't registered until 1888, or a wedding that was quickly annulled for being too soon after Sophia's death, with a ceremony then performed and consummated in 1888?

The only record of the birth of an "Emma Anna Piper" is in late 1856, and that was in Royston, Herts, where Percy and Emma were married in 1887 or 1888. She would have been about 31 years of age.

Either way, according to census records, 1891 would find 47-year-old Percy living with his young wife, Emma, 33, in Lowestoft, Sussex, along with their two-year-old daughter, Dorothy M. Clarke, and a nurse/domestic servant named Emily Mead. Little Dorothy Mary's place of birth is listed as Norfolk, Norwich, where she was born in spring of 1889. Percy's occupation is cited as "Clerk in Holy Order Rector at St. Michaels at Plea Norwich."

Percy would serve as rector at St Michael-at-Plea until 1895. Perhaps they were on a holiday there in Sussex at the time of the census, 5 April 1891.

After his time at Norwich, however, Percy would be named Chaplain of the église anglicane at Dinard, France, in 1895 [below, right].

Percy Carmichael Clarke passed away in 1902 in Dinard and a window was apparently dedicated to him. An inscription upon it reads:

The window is placed by the English and American colony of Dinard to The Glory of God and the affectionate remembrance of Percy Carmichael Clarke for 7 years the Chaplain who entered into his rest 13th April 1902. When I wake up after thy [sic] likeness I shall be satisfied with it.


I can find only one reference to Mrs. Emma Anna Clarke, that being in the year 2000, in the Bulletin et mémoires (Vol. 103) of the Société archéologique du département d'Ille-et-Vilaine. Unfortunately (for me), it is written in French:

Portrait de Mme Clarke, qu'évoque Lawrence lorsqu'il se rend chez elle, villa Staplefield rue des Bains aujourd'hui rue Georges Clémenceau (la première villa à droite de la photographie).

Mme Clarke née Emma Anna Piper le 1 1 décembre 1857 à Beithingford, Angleterre, semble être une grande amie de la mère du jeune homme. Lawrence évoque cette dame en ces termes : "Je pars pour voir Mme Clarke et peut- être le frère Fabel» et encore «Je suis allé chez Mme Clarke et ai porté mon linge en lui donnant une liste» et enfin «Elle vous offre toute sa maison et


That is the entire fragment available to me. Using the Google's on-line translator, I found it roughly means:

Portrait of Mrs. Clarke, Lawrence evokes when he goes home, villa Staplefield now rue des Bains St. Georges Clemenceau (the first house on the right of the photograph).

Mrs. Clarke was born Emma Anna Piper 1 1 December 1857 to Beithingford, England, seems to be a great friend of the young man's mother. Lawrence refers to this lady in these words: "I'm going to see Mrs. Clarke and perhaps the brother Fabel" and even "I went to Mrs. Clarke and I wore my clothes by giving a list" and finally "It gives you all his house and...

My hunch is that the translation is none too perfect, so I will refrain from adding anything here. (Assistance from Francophones would be greatly appreciated!)


Egerton Arthur Crossman Clarke had been born in Canterbury, England, in July 1899 to Percy and Emma. His sister, Dorothy, would have been about 11 years old. His father would have been about 57 and his mother—quickly widowed when Egerton was just three years old—would have given birth to him when she was around 43. He also was baptized there on 18 October 1899 despite his father having been employed at Dinard [below, left, circa 1900].

Egerton was born to older parents and without a sibling close in age or of the same sex with whom to bond. His household obviously would have been a religious one, and at the point in Percy's life at which Egerton was born, it was likely to have been quite devout: Percy had taken his family abroad to France in search of a congregation at a time when many men may have been thinking about settling down into retirement.

Of course, Percy had young children to support, so it may have been practical and economic decision. And, while there is no evidence, there may have been some scandal, or at least an irregularity, in Norwich, leading to Reverend Clarke becoming ensconced in Dinard. That would have been a very practical solution to such a problem: Get him out of England.

Remember that Clarke's tenure at St. Michael-at-Plea virtually began with the death of an aging wife and an almost immediate marriage to a very young one

No matter what, it was unlikely that Percy Carmichael Clarke took over as Chaplain in France as a promotion from St. Michael-at-Plea, or simply as part of some mid-life crisis. And we know the family, after all, never cut ties with England even a little—Egerton was born and baptised there, not in France.

Young Egerton does not appear on the 1901 UK census, likely because he was in France, the very young son of older parents, with no siblings, alone in a country in which everyone spoke a language different from the one used by his parents at home when they conversed, and with a congregation of transient vacationers on holiday, arriving for the mild climate... and the casino.

On top of all that, Egerton soon would be fatherless.

We don't know what happened to the family at that point, but an 11-year-old Egerton Clarke soon shows up in a summary for the 1911 UK census in an "institution" (presumably a school) in the village of Blean near Canterbury, Kent. The family still had ties to the area.

Pictured, right, are children from the Blean School in 1910. 11-year-old Egerton is very likely one of the boys in the middle row, if this was, indeed, the "institution" he was attending in 1911. One hopes that Egerton had escaped the infamous workhouse there, but only greater access to the 1911 UK census would provide an answer..

[Note: It is actually unlikely that any of these children are Egerton; according to his family he did, indeed, attend St Edmund's School in Canterbury, Kent. (08-17-11)]


Let's fast forward, however, to the part of young Egerton's life during which he lost his mother. He was 31 years old when she passed away.

According to probate records, Egerton's mother, Emma Anna Clarke, would pass away on 24 October 1930. She had been living at 30 Portland-road, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, but passed away at "Silverdale Sydenham Kent Administration (with Will)." Despite having at least one living child, the will was cited as "Limited" and probated on 23 January 1931 to George Ogilvy Jackson, solicitor attorney of Edward Arthur Baring-Gould,. Her effects were £194 12s [below, left].

This was not a rich woman. Percy Clarke may have left her a nice sum upon which to live—there are no probate records after his death—but we can see there was little left by 1930, if there ever was much. Even at that, it appears her legacy in 1931 went to solicitors, not family.


[Note: Boy, was I wrong! Solicitor Baring-Gould was married to Emma's daughter Dorothy, sister of Egerton Clarke. From Janine, Egerton's granddaughter: "Dorothy married a Baring Gould. He was referred to as Uncle Ted - so Edward Arthur Baring Gould - was one and the same." So, her probate was, indeed, handled by family. (08-17-11)]


It's likely that Egerton was raised by a mother who didn't have a great deal to spare. It’s possible his schooling may have been attended by his namesake uncle, Egerton Harry John Clarke, who had taken to the profession of young Egerton's grandfather, John Jeffkins Clarke: Stock Broker.

In retirement, when Uncle Egerton Harry John died in 1927, his probate left £18,525 17s. 3d. to his widow. We may need to look no further as to how young Egerton Arthur Crossman's education may have been funded, at least in part.

Next time we'll take a look at the results of that education, Egerton's time spent in the military during the First World War, and his relationship with George Mills.

Stay tuned…

Fr. John Basil Lee Jellicoe, Part 1

Today, we'll take a look at a short thread we've been following, trying to get some closure on the preface to the 1933 book Meredith and Co. by George Mills. There are a few other loose ends to pursue besides this, and I think my work here at Who Is George Mills? will be just about complete.

As we know, the preface referred to two men, as having been helpful and encouraging during his production of the manuscript for the text: Mr A. Bishop, the "Head Master of Magdalen College School, Brackley," and Mr. H.E. Howell, an "old friend."

H. E. Howell remains unidentified, a mysterious man of some influence on George Mills, but unknown to us today.

Last time we found out that Bishop was Arthur Henry Burdick Bishop, not only once Head Master of Magdalen in Brackley, but longtime, successful Head at Warwick School. Many thanks to Mr. G. N. Frykman, archivist at Warwick for his wealth of information on Bishop and the school of his era (1936-1962), as well as for his effort to get someone at Magdalen College School to contact me.

Magdalen College School, or should I say schools, has an interesting history. There are apparently three: Oxford, Brackley, and Lincolnshire, although it appears the name of the last is the Skegness Grammar School. That name, interestingly, was taken in 1933 upon its relocation from Wainfleet.

The Oxford school, originally located in Magdalen College, since has moved across the Magdalen Bridge and expanded.

The institution of our interest here, though, is Brackley, and according to Wikipedia, the college still owns the site in South Horthamptonshire, and has a presence on the governing board.

This historical presence ties the school to the famed Magdalen College, Oxford, and it is there that our investigation leads us. First let's look at an historical figure with close ties to Magdalen College as well.

During the 1920s, a fiery reformer named Fr. Basil Jellicoe [right] took the stage. Born on 5 February 1899 in Chailey, Sussex. Jellicoe is noted in a 1917 Chailey parish magazine as having been "Univ OTC, Oxford." Subsequent issues note that Jellicoe served with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during 1918 and is described as an 'assistant paymaster,' a designation that ended in July 1919, when Jellicoe was presumably disembarked from his service after the end of hostilities in the First World War.

The 2004 edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says this about Jellicoe:

Jellicoe, (John) Basil Lee (1899-1935), housing reformer and Church of England clergyman, was born on 5 February 1899 at Chailey, Sussex, the elder son of Thomas Harry Lee Jellicoe, rector of Chailey, and his wife, Bethia Theodora, youngest daughter of Sir John Boyd, of Maxpoffle, Roxburgh, lord provost of Edinburgh from 1888 to 1891. His father was a cousin of J. R. Jellicoe, first Earl Jellicoe.

A few months before the end of the First World War he left Oxford to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and served for a short time in the Mediterranean.


On the website Chailey 1914-1918, Paul Nixon gives his opinion regarding that entry:

This rather spare and stuffy review does not appear to do justice to the man. In the 1920s he campaigned successfully to replace the Somers Town slums in Camden, north London with decent housing and was a colossus in the neighbourhood as well as a firm favourite with the residents. He founded what later became the St Pancras Housing and Humanist Association and helped set up similar groups throughout England. He worked tirelessly for the benefit of poorer communities and must have been sorely missed when he died at the young age of 36.


Father Luke Miller, President of the Haileybury Society, wrote this of Jellicoe:

Just after the First World War Jellicoe had come down from Magdalene Oxford, been ordained and appointed as the Magdalene College Missioner, responsible for a Christian Mission to the area round S. Pancras station in London supported and funded by members of his college. It was an area of slums: dark alleys, stinking tenements, jumbles of dwellings with no sanitation, no light and providing hardly any shelter.

Seeing the terrible housing conditions Father Jellicoe insisted that the spiritual duty of the church for the souls of her children must extend to a physical duty to their wellbeing and specifically to their housing.

Jellicoe cajoled the owners; raised the funds; demanded support; lobbied politicians; worked to change opinion, employed the press – Gaumont films made a news reel that was sent round the country and the world – and generally made himself a nuisance to anyone and everyone to get things done. It was fabulously successful. Things were done and the whole area was transformed.

His work spread beyond to confines of his own parish. He was called on to develop his new concept of Housing Associations in the Isle of Dogs in London and in other cities in the nation. His idea spread round the world, and he is the father of social housing.

Father Jellicoe was not a social reformer. He was a Gospel preacher. Once he described the beginning of the work with the housing. “We wanted money for these building schemes” he said, “So whom do you suppose we went to? Well we went first to a poor paralyzed woman who hadn’t a penny, who couldn’t use anything but her lips, but who knew how to pray. That was the beginning of everything.”

It was costly what he did. It was costly to others who had to give up their preconceptions and their prejudices and be carried along by him in his enthusiasm for the gospel. But it was also costly for him. Twice he had breakdowns under the pressure of the work. He drew strength from his daily offering of the Body and Blood of Jesus at the altar in his church; he organized a prayer guild to sustain the mission in prayer, and he drew on the power of the scriptures in his spiritual warfare. But it cost him nonetheless.

Someone who knew him well wrote of him, “I can see him now, pacing round and round the room, a soul on fire within a rather faded cassock, his eyes ablaze with what I can only call a fury of faith for the fighting of ancient wrongs, his heart aglow with affection for all sorts and conditions of men and with visions for their greater good. I wondered how long it would take for so keen a flame to burn out.”

Basil Jellicoe died, burnt out and exhausted, aged just 36.


At a Service of Thanksgiving celebrating the renewal of St. Martin-in-the-Fields 0n 28 April 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury mentioned Jellicoe: "In the days when St Martin's was gloriously beginning to reinvent itself in the second and third decades of the last century, a very great Anglo-Catholic priest, Father Basil Jellicoe, at that time the incumbent at St Paul's Convent Garden, was challenged by some of his more narrow-minded High Church friends about why he would come to celebrate and preach in a parish church like this where the blessed sacrament was not reserved. Father Jellicoe said he had no problem at all in coming to preach in a church part of which was reserved for the service of Christ in the form of his poor."


I will not pretend to have any real knowledge of the High Church, Low Church, Anglo-Catholicism, or of the relationship between the Anglican Church and Roman Catholicism.

Although we have not established fully a relationship between Jellicoe and George Mills, regular readers will find a few items already begin jump out from the above. More coincidences involving George Mills? His life seems at times to have been not much more than a series of interesting coincidences!

While it is no more a coincidence that Mills and Jellicoe served in WWI than it would be for any of the other countless men and women who served, it is interesting to note that both Mills and Jellicoe served in the pay corps during the conflict.

Interestingly, despite being a pay corps wash-out as a fatigue man in the Great War, Mills righted the ship of his military career by later himself becoming a member of the reserve of officers [how, exactly, is unknown] and serving as a lieutenant paymaster during the Second World War.

After the First World War, we know Mills attended Oxford, the location of Magdalen College, where Jellicoe received undeniable financial help via the "Magdalen College Mission," as we can see from the image at right.

In addition, Revd Barton R. V. Mills, an Anglican cleric converted to Roman Catholicism and the father of George Mills, is noted for having "founded the Association for Improving the Status of the Unbeneficed Clergy, and was [honourable] secretary of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children" during his life, as described in his obituary in the Times of London. These charitable works occupied the time of the senior Mills from the 1920s through his passing in 1932.

In fact, as early as 1884, when Barton Mills was beginning his career as a cleric, he was found "sitting on the Battersea Committee as an active member, according to a 15 December [1884] report by The Council of the Society for Organising Charitable Relief and Repressing Mendicity," and during the First World War, he had served as an "Acting Chaplain to the Forces."

The Rev. Mills had spent his life doing good works, and in a time when the young Jellicoe—a man with so much passion and vision—couldn't have helped but capture the notice and perhaps fancy of the elder cleric, George's father.


Lastly, we also know that much of George's life was concerned with religion. His father obviously had strong but ambivalent feelings about the exact nature of his own spirituality, converting to Roman Catholicism during the period in his life in which he also began serving as a vicar in the Anglican Church, and Barton later an assistant chaplain in the Chapel Royal at the Savoy.

The tribute paid by the Archbishop of Canterbury above to Fr. Jellicoe seems to apply to the Rev. Mills as well: "[He would have] had no problem at all in coming to preach in [any] church part of which was reserved for the service of Christ in the form of his poor."

Despite current skepticism by the Savoy itself, it's clear that the Rev. Mills had converted to Roman Catholicism (as did many of the men he saw as role models of his youth, like Rev. R. S. Hawker, who converted on his deathbed). By 1956, we find George Mills teaching at Ladycross School [left], a Catholic preparatory school in Seaford, Sussex, and having his own memorial service held at Catholic Church of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles in Budleigh Salterton in 1972.


Jellicoe saw a blurred line between an exact daily practice of Christianity and its more important function of providing a necessary service to humankind. He was a charitable reformer in the same city at the same time George's own father was. Both Mills and Jellicoe had ties to Oxford in the 1920s. And just before that time, Jellicoe, like Mills, recently had served under the Colours in the pay corps, of all things!

These still could be coincidences, but we'll try to tie them together even a bit more tightly (and weave in Bishop and Howell) next time—stay tuned!

A Virtual Walking Tour of Budleigh Salterton (While Thinking Aloud about George Mills)

Churches seem to have always played an important role in the lives of the Mills family. This is probably no better exemplified than by the letter that George Mills wrote to The Times on 8 April 1959 entitled "Dogs in Church," apparently in reply to an on-going, whimsical thread of mail that had struck a chord in Mills. The missive is a nostalgic retelling of a story that George's father, the Revd. Barton R. V. Mills often told about going to church with his parents, Arthur Mills, M.P., and Lady Agnes, as well as their black retrievers, Belle and Achille.

The last line of the death notice of George Mills that we saw yesterday reads: "Funeral service at the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday, December 13, at 10:30 a.m." Friend Michael Downes couldn't find a grave for Mills in the local burial ground in Budleigh Salterton (although that may have been due to the inclement weather), and until we know where George rests, his story in Budleigh ends in a church with that 10:30 a.m. service.

It's a dazzlingly sunny morning here in Florida, but cuttingly cold for this part of the world [37°F / 3°C] and the level of insulation found in the houses. However, technology has advanced to the point where I can sit here and virtually stroll around Devonshire, exploring—thanks to Google Maps. I know this won't be of interest if you are a resident of Budleigh Salterton, but for me, it's exciting to see the town across the pond!

First, let's look for the Budleigh Salterton Hospital [above] where Mills peacefully departed. It's at the corner of Boucher and East Budleigh Roads in what is apparently Otterton. Really it's just across the croquet lawns and cricket fields—both sporting loves of George—from his home, Grey Friars. It's about 1500 ft. from the Mills home to the main entrance of the hospital, but it appears to be a rather circuitous drive from one to the other.



On the way back to Grey Friars, I strolled down The Lawn from High Street and took a look at the beautiful edifice that appears to be St. Peter's Church of England [above], although I couldn't find a sign. After receiving his Master's in History from Oxford, George's father, Barton, had been a vicar in the Church of England from 1887 through 1901, as well as having been a chaplain briefly in San Remo, Italy, and an assistant chaplain at the Royal Chapel at the Savoy. Subsequently, the senior Mills worked as a religious scholar and as a military chaplain during the First World War.

We know, however, that Barton Mills converted to Roman Catholicism while at Christ Church, Oxford, before becoming a cleric in the Church of England—sometime before 1885. From the United States, it seems odd that a cleric in one denomination would worship as a member of the congregation of a different denomination—Barton Mills certainly must have missed a few Catholic masses while busy delivering sermons for the C of E at the same hour—but no one I've discussed it with in the UK seems very much surprised by that at all (except for the current Chaplain of the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy, Peter Galloway, who found the news implausible and immediately questioned the authoritative 1885 reference book without even bothering to review it because it did not coincide with his bias). Revd. Barton R. V. Mills appears to have been Roman Catholic by faith, Church of England only by vocation. I leave it to the reader to surmise the tenets of which creed would have been passed, personally, from father to children in such a case.

The entire Mills family's repeated affiliation with Catholicism is far more than coincidental, so it's no surprise at all that George's funeral service was held at Budleigh's "Roman Catholic Church" (also named for St. Peter, a fact left out of the death notice, presumably to prevent confusion among those wishing to attend the service). Grey Friars is virtually equidistant between the two churches of St. Peter, so Mills's spiritual choice of denomination clearly wasn't based on mere proximity. The Mills family clearly was no longer associated with the Church of England.


After turning north up Slaton Road and Moor Lane, I turned north on Upper Stoneborough Lane. While walking along Clinton Terrace, I found a lovely, far more simple, brick church [above].

Turning the corner, I found the entrance [above]...

Looking carefully, the sign at front appears to read "Catholic Church of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles," obviously the location of George's funeral. I imagine Mills closing his dripping umbrella and stepping into the warm, dry vestibule on rainy Sunday mornings...

Returning to Moor Lane, I followed it out to the West, to the very end, where it meets Dark Lane, across from the primary school. There I found St. Peter's Burial Ground, presumably where Michael Downes and his wife, Annie, looked for the final resting place of George Mills one misty winter day.

Approaching the entrance, I carefully read the sign, then strolled along the hedge [above], peering over and thinking... Wishing I could enter...

I wonder if this locale is where George Mills finally went to rest. His paternal grandfather was a powerful M.P., and associated with the Efford Down House in Bude, Cornwall. His paternal grandmother was Agnes Lucy Dyke Acland, daughter of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland VI, 10th baronet, M.P., of Broad Clyst, Devon. The Columb John Chapel at Killerton [below] there in Devon was still being used for Acland family burials after Sir Thomas's death. Could George have found a resting place there?

But one wonders where his father, Barton, was buried after his death in 1932? With the Aclands at Columb John, part of the estate where he and his brother Dudley Mills had been raised for much of their youths by the aging Sir Thomas while father Arthur journeyed to many of the empire's colonies? Knowing where Dudley now rests might help in all of this!

George's mother, Elizabeth Edith Ramsay, was the daughter of Londoner Sir George Dalhousie Ramsay, and she may have been laid to rest alongside her father. Might George be resting near his mother in London—or even with other kin in Scotland?

His wife, Vera Louise Beauclerk Mills, was of the lineage of William I on the Beauclerk side of the family, and granddaughter of the legendary Sinophile Sir Robert Hart on the other. Vera, who passed away in 1942 at the age of 48, may have been buried in a family plot with either family. Could it be that George ended up alongside her?

Or is it likely that the childless Mills, along with his spinster (and presumably childless) sisters, Agnes and Violet, rests together with them in the St. Peter's Burial Ground there in Devonshire, near Grey Friars, the croquet club, and the sea, where they'd all lived so happily for a quarter of a century at the end of their lives?

It's even possible, I suppose, that Mills and/or his sisters were cremated. Still, nothing in the family's past would lead me to believe that.

We've followed the life and career of George Mills—schoolmaster, author, paymaster—from his birth in Bude, Cornwall to his passing in Budleigh Salterton, Devon. He spent a great deal of his life moving around, as we're well aware. I'll admit, I'd very much like to know where, exactly, he at long last came to rest.

Flat for Sale in Efford Down House, Bude, Cornwall - 2 Bedrooms, 1 Reception Room, 2 Bathrooms

It will be another scorcher here in Ocala, Florida, with the temperature scheduled to tickle 100°F yet again today. Let's just say it's been warming up nicely around here, and it will be a great day to sit in our cool, air conditioned living room and watch the United States play England in the first round of the World Cup in South Africa. For weeks now, we repeatedly have seen that the cover of The Sun regarding the draw on television in anticipation of today's match…

Looking at yesterday's entry, I couldn't help but feel a bit like a real estate agent running from address to address. With that in mind, let's look at an actual listing for flats in Bude, Cornwall, at the former home of George Mills's grandfather, Arthur Mills!

Here's the text from the internet listing [pictured, right]:

Efford Down House was constructed in the early nineteenth century. It was the private residence for Agnes Acland and her husband Arthur Mills MP. Her father Sir Thomas Acland had given the land to Agnes as a wedding gift, Arthur Mills was the member of Parliament for Taunton and later Exeter and was a leading figure in the Bude community. The house later became a hotel. In 1989 Efford Down House was tastefully converted into individual luxury apartments offering superb accommodation in one of the most enviable positions in Bude. In all this 2 bedroom apartment would be considered ideally suitable for holiday use or retirement and early viewing is recommended to avoid disappointment. The accommodation briefly comprises entrance hall, lounge/dining room, kitchen two bedrooms with en-suite to master and separate shower room, further complimented by gas fired central heating and UPVC double glazing.

Room Dimensions

Entrance Hall

Sitting/Dining Room 14'4 x 12'6

Kitchen 11'4 x 6'7

Master Bedroom 10'11 x 9'6

En-Suite Bathroom 6'11 x 5'10

Bedroom 2 10'3 x 8'1 plus door recess

Shower Room 7' x 5'2

Outside Services

Lady Agnes Lucy Acland Mills [presumably in the carriage, left, being driven by husband Arthur] had passed away on 23 May 1895, never living to see the births of grandchildren Agnes [her namesake, born just 19 days after her death], George [1896], or Violet Mills [1902]. The executor was Reginald Brodie Dyke Acland, barrister, not Arthur Mills. My hunch, then, is that the Efford Down House did not go to Arthur after her demise.

Arthur himself passed away on 12 October 1898 leaving an estate probated at £42 035 to Reginald Brodie Dyke Acland, barrister, Theodore Dyke Acland, MD, the Rev. Barton Reginald Vaughan Mills, and Dudley Acland Mills, major in the Royal Engineers.

Even adjusting in my mind for inflation, cost of living, etc., I just can't see how that £42 035 included the property and home at Efford Down [pictured in the 1890s, below, at right, and today, below, at left]] , as well as Arthur's colonial properties, flat in London, and various other holdings.

Soon after Arthur's demise, Rev. Barton Mills left the vicarage at Bude for the Chapel Royal at the Savoy in London in 1901. It is presumable that he had some of that £42 035 in his pocket, possibly up to ¼ of it, and perhaps more, depending on how barrister-proof was Arthur's will on behalf of his sons Barton and Dudley.

The Mills family, as we know, ended up in London in 1901, and that he'd already conducted a service at the Chapel Royal by that time: The year of 1901 marked the passing of Queen Victoria on 22 January. Barton R. V. Mills preached his first sermon at the Chapel Royal on 2 February 1901 at the Festival of the Purification, Memorial Service on the day and at the hour of the Funeral at Windsor of Queen Victoria. Records show that the preachers on that day were "T E Franklyn, Assistant Chaplain, and Barton R V Mills, Vicar of Bude Haven, Cornwall."

It's unclear whether he'd been invited to participate, and as a result ended up in the employ of the Savoy, or if it was already accepted that he'd soon become a cleric there. He'd apparently also preached Ash Wednesday and Good Friday services in the Chapel Royal before he was officially listed as an assistant chaplain on the 25th Sunday after Trinity, 24 November 1901.

Nonetheless, the family of the Reverend Barton had been residing at 13 Brechin Place in London by the evening of the 31 March 1901 census. Had he come to town knowing he had a job at the Savoy waiting, or because he needed to find work and London seemed the place to find it?

I've always assumed that Barton left the vicarage at Bude of his own accord, but the vicarage itself was endowed by the Acland family. Perhaps I've been mistaken. Is it possible he actually had been removed from his post in Bude Haven in favor of a new vicar who was a closer relative of the Aclands, or at least someone held in higher esteem at the time? After all, he'd seen a long-time vicar of Poughill unceremoniously thrown over in favor of him in the recent past. Might the connections of the powerful Aclands have arranged for his position at the Savoy, or at least been a foot in the door? Had he, his wife, and his children, been disenfranchised since his most direct living benefactors had all passed away by the outset of the 20th century? One wonders.

I have to doubt that much, if any, of the value of the property and manor at Efford Down went to London with Reverend Barton, or covered his moving expenses.

You, however, have an opportunity he likely never had: To own a piece of Mills family history in Bude!

For just £245,000, you could own a two-bedroom flat [sitting/dining or "reception" room pictured, right] in the manor at Efford Down! Just call 0843 315 1302.

£245000 for two bedrooms and two baths: It's enough to make a wealthy fellow like Arthur Mills believe that he was born by far in the wrong century!

I invite any thoughts, information, or speculation you might have into wills, probate, inheritance, or property you may have regarding the late 19th century.

That said, enjoy England vs. the U.S.—it should be a good one!

Lt. and Paymr. G. R. A. Mills (150796)

Last evening before I went to bed, I decided to run a search on someone I haven't found much about, but who would have known George Mills: His uncle, Dudley Acland Mills, an officer in the Royal Engineers. Dudley was a career military man, and I find mention of him here and there, but not enough to have fleshed him out yet. His career seemed to have taken him around the world, but last night via Google I found a record of his death in 1938 in a link at the London Gazette.

On the off chance that I might find something interesting, I decided to search within the London Gazette's own website as long as I was there. I wasn't holding out any hope.

Of course, by now you've realized I found something more than just good old Uncle Dudley!

I found only three brief mentions of George Mills, but those entries speak volumes about his life between 1939, when he published two children's books [Minor and Major and St. Thomas of Canterbury] and 1956, where we've found him teaching at Ladycross School in Seaford.

In chronological order, here they are:

From a Supplement to the London Gazette dated 12 November 1940, came this subheading and listing, amid a plethora of others:

ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS.
The undermentioned to be Lts.:—

11th October, 1940:—
George Ramsay Acland Mills (150796)


I'll admit, when I found that Mills had been born in 1896 and had served in the First World War, I knew he'd have been in his forties during World War II, and suspected that he wouldn't have participated in it, at least not as a military man. Despite the fact that he'd turned 44 just 10 days before 11 October, he had, indeed, returned to the military—and had jumped from Lance Corporal upon his discharge in 1919 to Lieutenant some 21 years later.


The next entry is from an issue of the London Gazette dated 10 April, 1942:

ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS.
The undermentioned to be Lts.:—

11th April 1942:—

2nd Lts.:—
T. L. Kelly (150969), G. R. A. Mills (150796), A. F. Relleen (150979)


I suppose that would be good news—except that on 5 January 1942, Mills had lost his wife, Vera Louise Beauclerk Mills, to a cause that is unknown to me at this point.

The final reference to Mills, from the 2 November 1943 edition of the Gazette:

ROYAL ARMY PAY CORPS.
War Subs. Lt. C. G. Larkin (141829) to be Lt. and Paymr. 13 Aug. 1943.

Lt. and Paymr. G. R. A. Mills (150796) relinquishes his commn. on account of ill health, 3 Nov. 1943, and is granted the hon. rank of Lt.


As you may recall, before George was born, his father's first wife passed away in 1889. Rev. Barton R. V. Mills resigned as vicar of Poughill at the time and didn't return to his livelihood until he became vicar of Bude Haven in 1891. Right now, it's open to speculation whether it was mental anguish, physical sickness, or both that kept the senior Mills away from the pulpit for some two years after the death of his spouse.

We see that George was officially replaced by 13 August in 1943, even though his commission is not relinquished until 3 November, just after he had turned 47 years old.

[This does make me wonder what, exactly, it measn to have "relinquished" his commission? And is it possible that Mills had simply been some sort of inactive reserve for 21 years and was called back to active duty at 44 years of? And I'm assuming "Paymr." means paymaster. Does it? Pardon my density, but I can't say I'm 100% sure.]

Perhaps Mills leaving the service in the middle of a global conflict had nothing to do with the loss of his wife of 16 years, and maybe its similarity to what seemed to have happened a half-century before with his father was purely coincidental.

Nevertheless, after a decade or more of moving from one teaching position to another, from Cumbria to Switzerland, George settled in for a few years as a paymaster in the Royal Army Pay Corps. My sense is that the loss of Vera, combined with some sort of "ill health" had him on the move, career-wise, yet again.

There's much to be known about Mills and his return the military during the Second World War, and I do hope we learn more. I think it's interesting to note that, during the First World War, his father Barton had become an "Acting Chaplain to the Forces" in his sixties. We also saw that the senior Mills was quite concerned, even if merely academically, with the state of war and conflict in the modern world.

Just as in most families of the time, the "War to End All Wars" had a significant impact on the Mills family as a whole, and must have had a more direct impact on young George, who'd served in the Royal Rifles and Royal Army Service Corps from 1916 through 1919.

Since 1919, however, George had a wife, a great deal of talent, a winning personality… and a complete lack of security in his life. Between walking onto the campus at Windlesham House in 1925 and walking away from the Army in 1943, George Mills had had no less than six employers in those 18 years—and that would not include his self-employment as an author of four books during a 6 to 7 year stretch from 1933 to 1939.

Besides doing his part for King and country, the Army must have looked quite secure to a then middle-aged George, perhaps a place where he could stay for awhile, a place that had sports—apparently the Pay Corps played rugby, football, and golf among other sports—and a place where he could at last settle down with Vera by his side after over a decade of scuffling to find prolonged employment.

His loss of Vera must have dashed that plan as well, although I don't know the circumstances of her death. I understand the "Blitz" would have been over by January 1942, but I also have read that there were still random attacks that killed hundreds, if not thousands, between May 1941 and the onset of the V-1 and V-2 attacks in 1944. If an attack had been the cause, Mills might also have been looking for a new home as well as possibly having the loss of all of his belongings, memorabilia, heirlooms, etc.

How much Vera's death had an effect on George's 1943 "ill health" open to conjecture is at this point. What we have been able to do, though, is narrow the window on another segment of the 'missing years' of George Mills.

Instead of leaving George in 1939—a published author with two books hitting the booksellers' shelves within a calendar year—we now have him, as of 3 November 1943, in poor health and a widower on an island under constant attack during the largest global conflict in history. It's hard for me to imagine what London [pictured, left] or Sussex must have been like at the time, still seven full months short of the Normandy invasion, and how all of that must have been perceived by Mills—ailing, jobless, possibly homeless, and quite likely missing Vera terribly.

What are the chances that Mills had been a paymaster in a distant battle locale? Would a man returning to the service in his forties have been assigned outside of the British Isles as a paymaster? Or had he been working in the city or at the centre in Brighton? Where would a 2nd Lieutenant Paymaster have been assigned at the time?

If anyone has any thoughts on Mills and his new, brief, and certainly unexpected mid-life career, please do let me know. I'll admit: This unanticipated turn of events has thrown me for a loop!

Replies and Records Concerning the Revd Barton R. V. Mills

I just received a couple of e-mails I'd been awaiting, so here are some thoughts on the Revd Barton R. V. Mills, father of George Mills…

Revd Prof Peter Galloway, Chaplain of the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy, had recently suggested checking with the City of Westminster Archives regarding Rev. Mills and the possibility that he had not, indeed, ever been an assistant chaplain at the Savoy.

This is from Hilary Davies of those Westminster Archives:

Thank you for your e-mail of 5 April concerning the employment of Rev Barton RV Mills at the Savoy Chapel Royal, 1901-1908.
I checked the volumes for which you supplied the references (thank you), and found him preaching in the chapel regularly, though not frequently, from 1901 (Ash Wednesday & Good Friday) onwards. He is listed as celebrating Holy Communion on the 24th Sunday after Trinity and Christmas Day in 1907. He is clearly noted down as being an Assistant Chaplain.
I hope this is helpful to your research.

Yours sincerely
Hilary Davies (Ms)
Senior Archives & Local Studies Assistant

Good to know! Thank you, Hilary. But that left Revd Galloway—and me—with the problem of why a man who'd renounced the Anglican Church [according to the 1885 book, Converts to Rome, by W. Gordon Gorman] was preaching in the Chapel Royal. From Revd Galloway:

I am pleased you managed to discover a little more about Barton Mills, though the facts are certainly confusing. I think it highly unlikely that Mills would have been allowed to preach at the Chapel Royal, if his conversion had been known. My first instinct is to question the accuracy of Gorman's assertion that Mills was a convert to the Roman Catholic Church. My second instinct is that you try the records of the diocese of Truro - the diocese which covers Cornwall - held at the Cornwall County Records Office to see what papers they have regarding Mills. You can contact them at:

cro@cornwall.gov.uk

I hope this helps and I look forward to hearing more.

Having e-mailed them promptly, I very soon received this well-researched reply:

Thank you for your email.

I began by checking the entry relating to Barton Mills in the 1896 Crockford’s Clerical directory which we hold. This states that he was ordained deacon in 1882 and priest in 1883 in the diocese of Rochester. Therefore any records relating to his ordination would be held in Kent. He took his degrees at Christ Church College, Oxford who may hold records relating to this period of his life. This also says he was vicar of Poughill 1887-1889 and of Bude from 1891.

We hold registers of institutions and licences to benefices for the Truro diocese. These are indexed by the name of the parish. I have looked in the register covering his period at Poughill (D/R/275). I have found the entry for institution of Barton Mills to the vicarage of Poughill which was dated 9 May 1887. The institution of the next incumbent was dated 11 October 1889 and was due to the resignation of Barton Mills. Budehaven was a perpetual curacy so I looked in the register of licences to perpetual curacies (D/R/286). He was admitted to Budehaven 3 March 1891 and the next incumbent was admitted 7 June 1901.

I have also searched our parish collections for Poughill and Bude. We hold a register of services for Poughill 1887-1890 (P192/2/22) which I have looked at. This begins on 15 May 1887 when Barton Mills is the preacher. The last service he takes is 7 October 1888.

I hope this information is useful to you. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Jennie Hancock
Archivist
Cornwall Record Office

Thanks, Jennie! This message presents us some interesting information. None of it, however, addresses a possible conversion to Roman Catholicism by B. R. V. Mills.

First, though, we now know the years in which Mills was ordained a deacon and a priest: 1882 and 1883. Even more interestingly, despite Mills being from a family that is heavy on its relationship with southern England, from Cornwall to Sussex, and London, he does this work in the Diocese of Rochester. That's a brand new pin on my big, figurative George Mills Map, and may mean something.

We also are able to work out the "turn around time" it takes from the time someone is named a vicar through to the time one actually takes the pulpit. Mills was named the vicar of Poughill the day after Ash Wednesday, 24 February 1887. His actual institution in the Diocesan records is 9 May, with his first sermon being delivered on 15 May—about seven weeks later. His first child would be born on 12 July 1887.

The last service he takes at Poughill is on 7 October 1888, just 17 months later. He is the vicar of record, however, until 1889. The new vicar is instituted at Poughill on 11 October 1889—just over a year after Mills delivers his last sermon from the pulpit at Poughill.

Let's say that over four weeks is fairly normal for a vicar's resignation to be accepted, a new vicar named, for him to be instituted in the records, and for the new incumbent to arrive with his belongings and cassock. That would still have left Sundays in Poughill, if I understand it all correctly, having been handled by the deacon for well over ten months during 1888-1889.

And we know that Lady Catherine Mills, Barton's wife and the mother of infant son Arthur, passed away on 25 September, just 16 days before the institution of the new vicar.

Would I be wrong in assuming that Lady Catherine likely suffered a protracted illness or recovery from an injury? Would I also be wrong in assuming that Mills must have been very much the worse for wear after a long year that must have ended in tragedy, fully knowing he would no longer be able to handle his duties in the small Poughill parish. In fact, is it likely that he already resigned and had a replacement on his way to Poughill by the time of his wife's actual demise?

We don't truly know exactly what kept Mills out of the pulpit for a full year, or what led to the death of Lady Catherine, but hopefully we'll hear soon about Mills and his affiliation with Roman Catholicism. I'm waiting to hear back from the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Perhaps we'll know something soon!

The Life of B. R. V. Mills, Part 2

In 1891, recent widower Barton Reginald Vaughan Mills, father of a young son, Arthur, was appointed vicar of Bude, on the coast of Cornwall, on a stipend of £170 a year, a sum considered less than his contemporaries, but still more than he'd recently earned at Poughill. Was money an issue? Perhaps, but it would seem, more importantly, that although he may have dreamed of a more metropolitan life, this living kept him close to kith and kin, especially to the patrons of Bude parish, the family of his grandfather, Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, who had helped raise Barton as a child in nearby Killerton, Devon.

We had no news for several years after Barton took up residence at the vicarage, but finally, on 10 January 1894, Barton R. V. Mills married Elizabeth Edith Ramsay, daughter of George Dalhousie Ramsay, C.B., in Kensington, London. In 1893 at the age of 64, Ramsay had just completed thirty years of service to his country as Director of Army Clothing. Various sources have Elizabeth Edith born in either 1865 or 1866, making her 28 or 29 years old at the time of the wedding. Barton himself was 36 on the day of his nuptials.

Soon after, in 1895, Barton's mother, Lady Agnes Lucy Dyke Acland, died on 23 May. But, on 11 June of that same year, Agnes Edith Mills was born in Stratton, Cornwall, to Barton and his new bride.

In 1896, the couple had their second child together and third overall, George Ramsay Acland Mills, born on 1 October 1896 in Bude. That same year, Fairbairn's Book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland‎ lists George Dalhousie Ramsay as residing at "7. Manson Place, Queen's Gate, S.W." That seemingly irrelevant fact would soon loom larger in Barton's life, just as my recent discovery of it did in this story.

In 1898, Barton's father, Arthur Mills, died on 12 October, and his estate was probated at £42 035 to Reginald Brodie Dyke Acland, barrister, Theodore Dyke Acland, M.D., the Rev. Barton Reginald Vaughan Mills, and Dudley Acland Mills, a major in the Royal Engineers and Barton's younger brother.

Barton's son, Arthur Frederick Hobart Mills, then aged 13, entered Wellington College, Berkshire, in the Hardinge House, in 1900. His father is listed as "Rev. B. R. V. Mills", at the address: "The Vicarage [right], Bude Haven, N. Cornwall".

One might assume that an inheritance could very easily change the family's prospects, and that seems to have been the case here. In the new century, things are about to change quite a bit for the family of four-year-old George Mills.

The year of 1901 marked the passing of Queen Victoria on 22 January. Barton R. V. Mills preached his first sermon at the Chapel Royal on 2 February 1901 at the Festival of the Purification, Memorial Service on the day and at the hour of the Funeral at Windsor of Queen Victoria. Records show that the preachers on that day were "T E Franklyn, Assistant Chaplain, and Barton R V Mills, Vicar of Bude Haven, Cornwall."

1901, however, is a particularly interesting because of Barton's sudden change of employment. As we see above, Mills is still Vicar of Bude Haven on 22 January. Soon, though, he resigned his position as Vicar of Bude Haven, becoming an assistant chaplain of the Chapel Royal of the Savoy in London.

In the 1901 census taken on 31 March, the Mills family is listed as living in "District 14, Brompton, Kensington, London", but I'm uncertain exactly where, or if they are living in a dwelling by themselves because I haven't seen the entire page. George's half-brother, Arthur, is not listed among the family members in London, or among any of the entire list of "Arthur Mills" within that census. Still, they've departed Bude, Cornwall, and it seems for good.

A new holy cleric preached his first sermon at the Chapel Royal of the Savoy [left] as assistant chaplain on the 25th Sunday after Trinity, 24 November 1901—the preacher of record was "Barton R. V. Mills, Assistant Chaplain."

No lay person I've asked has seemed to think the fact that Barton Mills converted to Roman Catholicism in the late 1870s would have made much of a difference in his becoming an Anglican Vicar or gaining employment at the Savoy. However, in a recent e-mail, the current Chaplain of the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy expressed doubt: "I should be surprised if Mills was appointed assistant chaplain of the Savoy (it was known as the Chapel Royal, Savoy in those days) having 'renounced the Anglican Church.'"

I've sent the surprising results of my research to the Queen's Chapel and, hopefully we'll have an answer soon regarding why a Roman Catholic had been holding positions of such influence in the Anglican Church. It's true that Mills may simply have changed his mind back about his affiliation just as suddenly as he had in changed it the first place. Still, I know that in the United States, if it became known that the clergyman of a Protestant church had ever been a convert to Roman Catholicism, and then flip-flopped back, it would likely cause somewhat of a tempest.

Also in 1901, Barton R. V. Mills published a book of sermons, Marks of the Church [Skeffington & Son: London, 1901], putting some additional funds in the family coffers. That would not have been a bad thing at all, considering the number of mouths to feed in his family was about to increase.

Violet Eleanor Mills was born on 17 November 1902, and in the following year, Arthur F. H. Mills, aged 16, left Wellington College, Berkshire, at the end of three years. It's unclear where young Arthur might have gone, but the most likely possibility would seem to be a return to the home of his father in London.

The Mills family then makes no news, as far as I can discern, until 1906 when Arthur resumes his schooling, entering the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, on September 12. He's rated "Fair" in both his first and second terms, and "Good" in his third term.

At some point during that span of time, though, George Mills was attending Parkfield Preparatory School in Haywards Heath. I'm not having much luck at all finding information on that now-defunct institution, however.

Then, in 1907, Barton R. V. Mills published Fundamental Christianity: an essay on the essentials of the Christian Faith (Reprinted from "The Churchman") [Masters & Co.: London, 1907].

A year later, Arthur F. H. Mills was "gazetted" [as he described it] into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Actually, Sandhurst describes him as having been "commissioned" into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry on 19 September 1908. It's likely the notion of Arthur saying he had been "gazetted" occurred when the Territorial Force was formed on April 1, 1908, as a result of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907. Mills then likely went directly into the 5th Battalion of the 214th Infantry Brigade.

Also in 1908, Rev. Barton R. V. Mills, speaking in his capacity as assistant chaplain of the Savoy, participated in that year's Pan-Anglican Congress and, in response to a discussion called The Drink Traffic, the minutes show he "suggested that there was an alternative solution to that of the Licensing Bill. It would be for the State to buy up all of the licensed houses at market value and convert the liquor trade into a Government monopoly. The profits of the trade would easily cover the cost of the purchase."

With prohibition also being discussed, it does seem odd—at least from today's perspective—having had a clergyman speaking on behalf of turning the liquor trade into a profitable government monopoly. Where Mills was then going with that line of thinking is unclear, though.

Perhaps coincidentally, but perhaps not, Barton Mills left the Savoy in that same year, 1908. He would have been about 52 years of age. Could this separation simply have been for the purposes of retirement?

In 1910, Barton sent George Mills, aged 14, following in his footsteps own to Harrow School in London. I'm uncertain of the family's exact address at the time, but in 1911, The Plantagenet Roll of Royal Blood is published, listing "Rev. Barton R. V. Mills" as living at "12 Cranley Gardens S.W."

There was a census in 1911 that showed Barton Mills, still listing his occupation as "Clergyman, Church of England," as the head of the household there at 12 Cranley Gardens, S.W., living with his wife, two daughters, seven servants and a governess in the 20+ room home.

Mills is listed in the 1911 edition of Kelly's Directory of Dorset: "The living [at the church of All Saints] is a rectory, net income £260, including 56 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Rev Barton R V Mills, M. A., of Cranleigh Gardens, London SW, and Major D. Mills [again, Barton's brother, Dudley]." The parish is Tarrant Keynston.

In 1912, George Mills left Harrow School, presumably to return home. There's quite a gap in the family history, then, until at last George's half-brother, Arthur, was mobilised after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 3 August 1914 and sent to France. Arthur was wounded in both legs during or just after the fighting at La Bassée, probably very late in 1914, and soon returned to England.

George, however, had later entered the First World War as a Private in the Rifle Brigade in 1916, where he also may have seen immediate combat in France.

The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry regiment created to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They participated in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916. This was during the Somme Offensive, one of the first uses of tanks by the British in a large scale battle. The tanks in the end proved largely to be a psychological asset. They emboldened attackers and intimidating defenders whenever they advanced. Tactically, however, the tanks did not provide much advantage or support for the British regiments because so many of them broke down as they advanced. Depending on the date of Mills' active assignment to the brigade, he easily could have been a part of that battle.

Mills later transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps where he reached the rank of Lance Corporal before returning to civilian life. This transfer made sense as George's namesake grandfather, Sir George Dalhousie Ramsay, had been Director of Army Clothing through 1893 and the RASC was responsible for transportation of non-ammunition stores such as food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores [such as clothing]. In addition, his uncle, Major Dudley Mills, was an officer in the Royal Engineers.

Also in 1916, perhaps still recovering from his leg wounds, Arthur married Lady Dororthy Rachel Melissa Walpole, daughter of Robert Horace Walpole, the Earl of Orford, in London. The couple apparently had had little income and publishing newspaper and magazine stories had bolstered the household income until, in 1916, they each published the first of their many novels.

During the war, the Mills family as a whole doesn't generate much news at all, save the distant death of Lady Dorothy's maternal grandfather, D.C. Corbin of Spokane, Washington, in the United States on 29 June 1918. Although they couldn't have met more than a handful of times, the multimillionaire American railroad magnate left her an iron-clad trust fund that she could not access until the death of her father, the scandalous Earl of Orford, who had just remarried in 1917.

In 1919, George Mills left the military and matriculated to Christ Church College, Oxford. Barton Reginald Vaughan Mills, "a cleric in holy orders and a scholar, of 7 Mawson Place, Queens Gate," is listed as George's father on the admissions documents at Christ Church.

It is unclear if "Mawson" was transcribed incorrectly at the time, read incorrectly recently, or simply transcribed to me incorrectly, but such a thoroughfare, if it ever had been there, certainly does not now exist in Queen's Gate.

However, as I just discovered yesterday, The County Families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland [Ballantyne & Co., London: 1919] lists Rev. Barton Reginald Vaughan Mills among its entrants, and cites as his address "7. Manson Place, S.W."

What a difference a single letter makes!

That's particularly interesting because "7. Manson Place, S.W." is, at the time, also the exact address of Barton's father-in-law, Sir George Dalhouisie Ramsay. It appears the family had at some point moved from Cranley Gardens into the home of Sir George, then some 91 years of age.

In that same 1919 text, Barton's occupation is listed as "Acting Chaplain to the Forces and is Joint-Patron of 1 living." Presumably, that living is Tarrant Keynston.

"Acting Chaplain to the Forces" is a title that I'll need to investigate more. Wikipedia states: "The current form of military chaplain dates from the era of the First World War. A chaplain provides spiritual and pastoral support for service personnel, including the conduct of religious services at sea or in the field."

In 1919, Barton Mills would have been some 62 years old. While I'm certain that he was neither "at sea," nor "in the field," his interest in war was quite evident—even if somewhat academic.

Not many months after the Armistice had been signed on 11 November 1918, Mills had a letter published in the journal History: The Quarterly Journal of the Historical Association, vol. IV, April, 1919, reading:

CORRESPONDENCE:

The Athenæum,
Pall Mall, S.W.1.

SIR,
May I, as a new member of the Historical Association, suggest the consideration in an early number of HISTORY, of the following question?
What is the historical evidence of, or against, the theory of the "nation in arms," of which so much has been heard during the war? My own impression is that it is a retrograde movement, and that the tendency of modern civilisation has been to restrict warfare to professional armies instead of arming "the manhood of the nation."
The discussion of this question by an expert ought to be most interesting.

BARTON R. O. MILLS [sic]

It's not the most passionate response to a horrific war ever, but in that brief missive, we do discover that Barton Mills, having recently become a member of the Historical Association, had also become a member of the prestigious Athenæum Club. Members of the Athenæum at the time included Rudyard Kipling, sculptors Gilbert Bayes, Sir Thomas Brock, and Sir George Frampton, and painters John Collier and Sir Luke Fildes. It seems Mills has truly established himself in London.

Sir George Dalhousie Ramsay then passed away on 16 January 1920. Can we assume that the Mills family stayed in his home at 7 Manson Place, S.W.? Is it also reasonable to consider that there may also have been something of an inheritance received by the Mills family? In 1889, Ramsay himself had come into a sizable inheritance, and in 1909, Ramsay and Mills both had been named trustees in the will of one John Crawfurd, who had died in 1868. There had apparently been quite a bit of "capital accumulation" of properties in the will by 1910. It's unknown at this point if this had had any effect on their relationship, business or otherwise.

Also in the year of 1920, Lady Dorothy Mills, Barton's daughter-in-law, received a very favorable review of her latest novel The Laughter of Fools [Duckworth & Co.: London, 1920] in Punch. The novel had been first published in the month of April and had to be reprinted just one month later.

In 1921, George Mills [or perhaps Barton] paid for his admissions examinations on 21 May and entered the University of Oxford. As an Army veteran, he "was exempted from taking Responsions (preliminary examinations for entry) and the examinations of the First Public Examination, under a decree of 9 March 1920… on condition that he had obtained permission from the Vice Chancellor and the proctors; and that he had paid the fee for admission to the examinations the decree excused him from." It's unknown at this point what George then may have studied after his admission or even how long he remained there.

So, Barton and family had likely settled into 7 Manson Place after the passing of Sir George; young George began following in his father Barton's footsteps at Oxford; Arthur—a war hero—was busily writing popular novels; and Arthur's wife, Lady Dorothy, had been finding some success with the pen as well. Everyone had survived the Great War, and Barton Mills—now some 63 years of age—must have felt some contentment.

Still, he had yet to accomplish his own most memorable achievement. And, just as he had experienced in his own life, he would see many unexpected changes visit the lives of those he loved.

But more on those changes, and the remainder of the life of the Revd Barton R. V. Mills, M.A., next time in Part 3!

[Read Part 3, or go back to Part 1.]