Harry Mills (politician)

Henry Mills (October 11, 1873 – December 20, 1959), better known as Harry Mills, was a locomotive engineer before being elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as the Labour candidate for the riding of Fort William in the October 1919 election. He was appointed to the cabinet as its first Minister of Mines and served until his defeat in the general election of June 1923.

Harry Mills
Mills (2nd from right) in 1955, with last surviving members of the 1919-1923 coalition
Ontario MPP
In office
1919–1923
Preceded byCharles William Jarvis
Succeeded byFranklin Harford Spence
ConstituencyFort William
Personal details
Born(1873-10-11)October 11, 1873
Bedwellty, Caerphilly, Wales
DiedDecember 20, 1959(1959-12-20) (aged 86)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Resting placeMountain View Cemetery
Fort William, Ontario
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Mabel Elsie Mackenzie
​
​
(m. 1900)​
OccupationLocomotive engineer

Biography

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[lower-alpha 1] serving as its chairman during 1917–1919. Construction of the Fort William Collegiate Institute[lower-alpha 2] 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]

References

Notes
  1. now part of the Lakehead District School Board
  2. which closed in 2005[1]
  3. Was called Department of Lands, Forests and Mines before 1920

Citations
  1. "Fort William Collegiate Institute". thunderbay.ca. City of Thunder Bay. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  2. Fort William Daily Times-Journal 1 & 21 Oct 1919
  3. "Mines Portfolio Of No Account". Toronto World. November 12, 1919. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  4. The Department of Mines Act, 1920, S.O. 1920, c. 12
  5. "Henry Mills: British Columbia Death Registrations". familysearch.org. 1959.
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