Words and Images Regarding Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills

While I was out of town recently, I also received word from Teresa Adderley's brother, Sebastian Mills, regarding their grandfather, Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills. As far as I can tell, Sir Arthur is probably not a relative of George Mills, but there's some circumstantial evidence that keeps speculation alive while I await more information.

First, Wellington College archivist Guy Williams lists Arthur Mordaunt Mills as a relative of George's brother, Arthur Frederick Hobart Mills, after they both resided in Hardinge Dormitory at Wellington around the turn of the 20th century.

Lady Catherine Mordaunt was the wife of Reverend Francis Mills, the paternal great grandfather of George Mills. The name "Mordaunt" crops up in the family again when George's uncle, Dudley Acland Mills, names his youngest son Mordaunt Mills [born 17 September 1908].

Was Mordaunt Mills given a family name, or did Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Mills, Royal Engineers, work with an officer who later became a Major General, Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills, in India (or elsewhere), and later name a son after a respected fellow officer? Only Dudley's family knows...

Anyway, here's word from Sebastian:

As my sister mentioned, Sir Arthur was our grandfather. I attach a photograph of him taken I should think in 1936 when he was promoted to Major General, Military Advisor in Chief to the Indian States Forces. Also a picture of my aged father taken a couple of years before his death at 91 in 2008 and my son - another Arthur aged then fifteen, now nineteen.

I'll do some research this side of the 'pond'.

Kind regards

Sebastian Mills
Gloucestershire

The family of Sir Arthur has been gracious enough to help in my research, and it is greatly appreciated. Pictured at the top of this entry you can see the photograph of Sir Arthur from approximately 1936, and at right the image from July 2005. Thank you so very much, Sebastian!

And, as always, you know the rest: If you can assist my research on the Mills family with any information—clerical or anecdotal—please don't hesitate to contact me, and thank you very much in advance for your help!

Word about Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills

Even on holiday, my thoughts return to George Mills…

As you may recall, several weeks ago I wrote a post about Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills. It was based on a message I’d received form Guy Williams, the archivist at Wellington College [pictured, left], one of the institutions attended by George’s brother, Arthur Frederick Hobart Mills, from 1900 to 1903.

Williams tossed in another Mills, mentioning that he was a “family member,” and that was Sir Arthur:

Arthur Mordaunt Mills
1892-1896 Hardinge dormitory
Son of Col. A McL. Mills IA
Dormitory Prefect
Shooting VIII 94-96
(very long war record, please let me know if you want the details)
Married Winifred Alice Carew (1908), who died (1931); married Hilda Young (1940).
Address in 1948: Maj. Gen. Sir Arthur Mills CB, DSO, The Little House, Enton Green, Godalming, Surrey

After some fairly extensive research into the ancestry of the family of George Mills, however, I could find no connection between Sir Arthur [pictured, right] and the family I’m researching.

Now, there's word from a relative of Sir Arthur:

Sent: 03 July 2010 20:25
Subject: Major General Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills

Dear Mr Williams,

I have been reading your article on George Mills and came across “spending a day with Sir Arthur”.

He was my paternal grandfather and from what I have read I don’t think we are related. I will forward this on to my brother who has done a bit of research about the Mills’s. Sir Arthur and his father spent most of their time in India and I am at the moment in possession of some old photo albums dating back to 1890 mostly of the Mills family. My grandfather has put names to most of the people.

However Wingate does ring a bell. Sadly my father died 2 years ago at the great age of 91 and he would have been able to tell us. I don’t think heaven has a direct line!!

Hopefully you will hear from my brother Sebastian and in the meantime do contact me if you would like to know anything else.

Yours sincerely Teresa (nee Mills) Adderley

I’ll look forward to hearing from Teresa or Sebastian for confirmation. I certainly appreciate the time the family took to let me know about Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills. And, Teresa, if you ever do discover the number of a direct line to heaven, I hope you'll share that as well! There are some loved ones there I'd love to reach one more time...

If more information comes in, as always, I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, back to my vacation here in sunny and very hot Grand Rapids, Michigan [pictured, left]!

Spending a Day with Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills

Sometimes in doing all of this research, I have to make decisions regarding the direction of my research at any given time. Often, those decisions work out well, and at other times, not so well. Many times, if not most, I'll admit, they are based almost entirely on a hunch that might either pay off handsomely—or have me wasting hours, or even days.

Here's a case in point. This is a long-awaited e-mail from Wellington College [pictured, above left] that I received last Friday:


Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 3:23 AM

Dear Mr. Williams,

Thank you very much for your email enquiry of last month. I apologise for the delay in responding, but the query arrived during the holidays and I have been clearing the backlog for the last couple of weeks. I have managed to find some information about the Mills family members at Wellington, as per your request.

Arthur Fredric Hobart Mills
1900 – 1903 Hardinge dormitory
Son of Rev. B.R.V. Mills
Royal Military College 1906
3rd Bn Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry 1908
Great War 1914 – 1918, Capt.

Arthur Mordaunt Mills
1892-1896 Hardinge dormitory
Son of Col. A McL. Mills IA
Dormitory Prefect
Shooting VIII 94-96
(very long war record, please let me know if you want the details)
Married Winifred Alice Carew (1908), who died (1931); married Hilda Young (1940).
Address in 1948: Maj. Gen. Sir Arthur Mills CB, DSO, The Little House, Enton Green, Godalming, Surrey.

I hope that this information is of interest and use. Do let me know if I can be of further assistance.

With kind regards,

Guy Williams (Wellington College archivist)

First wrong guess of mine: I'd privately speculated that Arthur F. H. Mills had been gazetted into either the 4th or 5th battalion of the DCLI. No big deal there.

I'd also, almost at the outset of my quest for information on Mills, had to decide how far into his family tree I wanted to climb. Regarding relatives, the farther I strayed from George Mills himself, the farther I was from my original intent, or so it seemed.

Based on that, I'd originally decided that Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills and his family were probably too distant to work on much, even though the internet seemed to be rife with references to him. It was a hunch. But as soon as I saw his name in the above e-mail, I decided to check him out, figuring knowing something about him just might come in handy. Another hunch.

Well, Sir Arthur has a distinguished and well-documented military record as long as my arm. I can't, however, seem to find anything that indicates in the least that Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills [right] is related in any way to the Mills family of my interest—at least not for several previous generations, back through into the 17th century.

George's great grandfather married a Lady Catherine Mordaunt, daughter of Sir John Mordaunt, 7th baronet, but I can't find any ancestors of George that would have shared his surname, Mills, with anyone in Sir Arthur's family. If somewhere back in history the two "Arthur Mills" in the above e-mail are related, it's likely to be more immediately through the name Mordaunt than through the name Mills. So let's review:

My first hunch: Don't waste any time [as I've done all day today] investigating Sir Arthur.

My second hunch: Reverse course after months, go ahead, and spend an entire day trying to link Sir Arthur to George Mills.

That second hunch wasn't the most brilliantly intuitive move during all of this Mills-mania of mine. But I'll admit that my motivation for finding a male Mills relative of George Mills who was born in the mid- to late-19th century was fueled by another puzzle I've run into: I need a father.

Whose father? Barbara Mills, that's who.

And who is Barbara Mills? That's exactly what I'd like to know, and it's what we'll take a look at next time!