Harold Cowley Mills
Harold Cowley Mills (1883-1945)
1883 Born at Paddington the son of Halford Lupton Mills, an Undertaker, and his wife Mary F.
1917 Married in Hackney to Dorothy Lillian Wilding the daughter of James Armstrong Wilding
1944/45 Obituary [1]
Harold Cowley Mills was born in 1883 and apprenticed to automobile engineering.
He took charge of the Engineering Department of his father's engineering business in 1910 and carried out a considerable amount of experimental work in connection with racing cars.
He was Managing Director of Mills Motors, Ltd., until he joined the R.N.V.R. in 1916.
In 1920 he became proprietor of United Transport, Ltd., and in 1925 Technical and Sales Manager of Solex, Ltd.
He died on 13th August, 1945, at the age of 62.
He was elected an Associate Member in 1918 and transferred to Member in 1938.
1949 Obituary [2]
"HAROLD CAWLEY MILLS, who was born in 1881, was educated at Goudhurst College and served his apprenticeship with the family firm of Messrs. Mills and Sons, Ltd., general engineers, London, from 1901 to 1905. The next five years were spent with a manufacturer in acquiring knowledge of the sales side of engineering. He then established his own business under the style of Jack Mills, at North Finchley.
During the war of 1914-18 he was, in the first instance, officer-in-charge of workshops for the Royal Navy, in London, the layout and equipment with machinery being carried out under his direction. Later he went to France and served with the R.A.F. as inspector of transport. On demobilization in 1919 with the rank of major, he purchased the control of the United Transport Company, Ltd. Five years later he secured an appointment as technical and sales manager to the National Supply Corporation, oilfield drilling machinery merchants, of New York and London, and in 1930 he became engineer to Messrs. Solex, Ltd., carburettor manufacturers, London.
In this connection he was in contact with the War Office and other Government departments, being responsible for the design of special induction manifolds for secret and confidential work. More recently he had been more closely concerned with automobile engineering and problems relating to carburation, especially with a view to Service requirements. Mr. Mills, whose death occurred on 13th August 1945, was elected a Member of the Institution in 1938."