Friday 14 September 2018

J R Mills 2262

The following entry is from They Answered The Call.  Click here for the contents page.

John Robert MILLS


Service number: 2262.  Age: 22 years.  Enlisted: 5 Nov 1915.

Occupation: Labourer.  Next of kin: (wife) Mrs Emily Mills.
Address on enlistment:  Toorbul Point.


HMAT Orontes, Aug 1916, Melbourne.[1]
Service Summary:

5 Nov 1915: Squadron 8 Australian Remount Unit 2.

10 Nov 1915: Embarked from Sydney on HMAT RMS Orontes for Egypt.

Shortly after John Robert Mills arrived in Egypt and at Ghezirch, he developed ear problems which led to deafness.

11 Apr 1916: Returned to Australia on HT Runic.

22 Jun 1916: Discharged.

Life Summary:

John Robert Mills (1893-1941) was the youngest son of Walter James Mills (1858-1896) and Maria Hussey (1858-1949) and was born at Caboolture on 21 Sep 1893.  The Mills family had lived in the Toorbul area from the 1870s and his mother Maria Mills had been the postmistress at Toorbul in 1903. Maria Mills father Henry Hussey had been a timber getter on Bribie Island in the 1870s and her brother Tom Hussey had a long association with the aboriginal people on Bribie Island.

John Mills married Emily Ruth Jones in Apr 1915 (prior to his enlistment). By 1921 John Mills, his wife and their family had moved to Newstead where he worked as a carter. John Mills, aged 48, died 12 Oct 1941 and shares a memorial with his mother and wife at Toowong Cemetery.

John Mills two elder brothers, Thomas James Mills and Walter Henry Mills also enlisted.



[1] Australian National Maritime Museum photo 00027619.

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