Charles Mills (Uxbridge MP)

Mills circa 1913
Memorial to Charles Thomas Mills in St John the Baptist's Church, Hillingdon
Architectural plans for the Mills memorial by Ambrose Macdonald Poynter and George Wenyon from The Building News 26 July 1916

Charles Thomas Mills (13 March 1887 – 6 October 1915) was Conservative MP for the Uxbridge Division of Middlesex elected in 1910. He was the "Baby of the House", the youngest Member of Parliament.[1]

Biography

He was the eldest son of Charles William Mills, 2nd Baron Hillingdon (1855–1919) who served as Conservative Member of Parliament for Sevenoaks from 1885 to 1892.

He and his father were meant to be on the maiden voyage of the Titanic but stayed home due to his father's ill health. He was killed in action three years later on 6 October 1915 at Hulluch while a lieutenant with 2nd Battalion of the Scots Guards.[2] He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.[2] Mills is also commemorated on Panel 8 of the Parliamentary War Memorial in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs that died during World War I to be named on that memorial.[3][4] Mills is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber.[5] A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style illuminated book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which includes a short biographical account of the life and death of Mills.[6][7]

The inscription on the memorial erected to his memory by his family in St John the Baptist's Church, Hillingdon contains two quotes: "He greeted the unseen with a cheer." (recalling a line from Robert Browning's poem "Epilogue"); and "So he passed over and the trumpets sounded for him on the other side." (from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan).[8]

His brother Arthur Mills succeeded him as Member of Parliament for Uxbridge Division.

References

  1. ↑ Baby of the House
  2. 1 2 "Casualty Details: Mills, The Hon. Charles Thomas". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  3. ↑ "Recording Angel memorial Panel 8". Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  4. ↑ "List of names on the Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall" (pdf). Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  5. ↑ "Mills". Heraldic shields to MPs, First World War. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "House of Commons War Memorial: Final Volumes Unveiled by The Speaker". The Times (46050). London. 6 February 1932. p. 7.
  7. ↑ Moss-Blundell, Edward Whitaker, ed. (1931). The House of Commons Book of Remembrance 1914–1918. E. Mathews & Marrot.
  8. ↑ "2LT Hon C T Mills". War Memorials Register. Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Frederick Dixon-Hartland		 Member of Parliament for Uxbridge
1910–1915		 Succeeded by
Arthur Mills


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