Frederick Mills (1910 – 5 December 1944) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played at

right-half A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

throughout the 1930s. He was killed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early and personal life

Frederick Mills born on 18 August 1911; he was the son of Frederick and Ann Mills of

Hanley Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been the ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

.Mills at CWGC
/ref> He worked at a local pottery firm.

Career

Mills joined

from Middleport, initially as an amateur, in April 1932. He signed professional forms the next month and scored his first goal in professional football on 10 December 1932, in a 3–1 win over

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditio ...

. He finished the 1932–33 season with three goals in 37 appearances. He scored twice in 37

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

games in the 1933–34 campaign. He was sold to

in June 1934, as the club were running short of money. He made his debut for Leeds at centre-forward, before switching to inside-right. After 16 games of the 1934–35 season he broke his leg, causing him to miss the entire 1935–36 campaign. He played 32 times at wing-half in the 1936–37 season, and scored twice in 12 First Division appearances in 1937–38. He played eight games in 1938–39, but left

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

after the outbreak of

Military service

Mills joined the 6th Battalion

King's Shropshire Light Infantry The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in the Childers Reforms of 1881, but with antecedents dating back to 1755. It served in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. In 196 ...

, a new unit formed in 1940, which was converted into

181st Field Regiment, Royal Artillery The 181st Field Regiment, Royal Artillery ('The Shropshire Gunners') was a unit of the Royal Artillery, raised by the British Army during World War II. First raised as infantry of the 6th Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry from the Welsh ...

in 1942. Gunner Mills was known to his comrades as 'Paddy' and was strong member of the regimental football team. On 5 December 1944, after the fighting for

Blerick Blerick (; li, Bliërik ; ) is a city district of the Dutch municipality of Venlo. It lies on the west bank of the Meuse and its origin goes back to the Roman era as a military stronghold and settlement en route from Mosa Trajectum (Maastricht) ...

in the Netherlands, the regiment was in convoy and halted in a taped route through a minefield. "''The story goes that Paddy had found most of a German Machine Gun and was keen to complete his trophy … Suddenly Paddy was heard to shout'' 'That's just what I'm looking for' ''or words to that effect. He jumped out of the lorry, and into the minefield. It's not clear whether he stepped on a mine, or the box he picked up was booby-trapped, but Paddy was killed instantly''." Recordedly aged 36, he left a widow, Lucy, and is buried in Venray War Cemetery.

Career statistics

Source:

References

Bibliography