Born in
Wales
in 1873, and later raised in
Birmingham, England
, he commenced work about 1893 as a wiper in the
Canadian Pacific Railway
roundhouse
at Fort William and rose through the ranks from fireman to locomotive engineer. He was active in the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
, and was elected to the Fort William Board of Education
[a]
serving as its chairman during 1917?1919. Construction of the Fort William Collegiate Institute
[b]
began in 1919 under his leadership.
[2]
Following his election as MLA in 1919, the
Independent Labour Party
nominated him to become Ontario's first Minister of Mines, a move that caused some controversy.
[3]
He sat in Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio until the new Department was officially created,
[4]
after which he was named its Minister.
On July 24, 1900 at
Port Arthur, Ontario
, he married Mabel E. McKenzie, with whom he had five children. She died in November 1925 at
Brandon, Manitoba
, where Mills had resumed railroading after his defeat in 1923.
Mills died at
Vancouver, British Columbia
in December 1959.
[5]