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 The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

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.

Biography

Born in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in 1873, and later raised in

Birmingham, England Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, he commenced work about 1893 as a wiper in the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

roundhouse at Fort William and rose through the ranks from fireman to locomotive engineer. He was active in the

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) is a labor union founded in Marshall, Michigan, on 8 May 1863 as the Brotherhood of the Footboard. It was the first permanent trade organization for railroad workers in the US. A year lat ...

, and was elected to the Fort William Board of Education serving as its chairman during 1917–1919. Construction of the Fort William Collegiate Institute began in 1919 under his leadership. Following his election as MLA in 1919, the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

nominated him to become Ontario's first Minister of Mines, a move that caused some controversy. He sat in Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio until the new Department was officially created, after which he was named its Minister. On July 24, 1900 at

Port Arthur, Ontario Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay. Port Arthur had been the district seat of ...

, he married Mabel E. McKenzie, with whom he had five children. She died in November 1925 at

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

, where Mills had resumed railroading after his defeat in 1923. Mills died at

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in December 1959.

Cabinet positions

References

Notes

Citations

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Harry 1873 births 1959 deaths Labour MPPs in Ontario Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Politicians from Thunder Bay People from Caerphilly Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen people Trade unionists from Ontario British emigrants to Canada