Harry 'Brusher' Mills (19 March 1840 – 1 July 1905) was a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

, resident in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, fea ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, England, who made his living as a

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

-catcher. He became a local celebrity and an attraction for visitors to the New Forest.

Life

Harry Mills was born on 19 March 1840 and lived at

Emery Down Emery Down is a small village in the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Lyndhurst, which lies approximately south-east from the village. Overview Emery Down is a small village clustered around a hilltop overloo ...

near Lyndhurst until at least 1861. Around 1880 he took up residence in an old charcoal burner’s hutHarry 'Brusher' Mills
national park heroes, www.nationalparks.gov.uk in the woodlands near Sporelake Lawn,A New Forest "lawn" traditionally refers to an open space in the woods where ponies and cattle feed. Sporelake Lawn was located in the Hollands Wood area () near the turning for New Park, on the road between Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst. about north of

Brockenhurst Brockenhurst is the largest village by population within the New Forest in Hampshire, England. The nearest city is Southampton some to the North East, while Bournemouth is also nearby, South West. Surrounding towns and villages include Beaul ...

. He took up snake-catching for a living, ridding local properties of snakes, armed with little more than a sack and a forked stick.Snakes alive!
BBC Local, Hampshire, 24 July 2002 He is said to have manufactured and sold ointments from parts of the snakes, and other snakes he boiled so that he might sell their skeletons to curious tourists. He supplied snakes, usually

Grass Snake The grass snake (''Natrix natrix''), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian non-venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians. Subspecies Many subspecies are recognized ...

s but occasionally Adders to London Zoo as food for their

birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predat ...

, and snake-eating snakes. It is estimated that he caught tens of thousands of snakes in his lifetime. Following a national press article about him, Mills became a draw for tourists and visitors to the New Forest, who would have their photographs taken with him, buy his snake potions, and listen to his country lore. He regularly attended

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

matches at nearby

Balmer Lawn Balmer Lawn is the name of a large New Forest Lawn located in an amphitheatre of woodland in the New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. It is just north of the village of Brockenhurst.The lawn comprises about 500 acre of open low land ...

and was paid to sweep the pitch between innings, and hence the nickname "Brusher" was bestowed upon him. He lived in this manner for nearly thirty years until he decided to build himself a larger hut. When it was nearly completed it was vandalised. No one was caught, but it is thought that it was destroyed to prevent him claiming squatters’ rights as forest law would allow him to claim ownership of the land on which he had lived for so many years. He took up residence in an outbuilding of one of his favourite pubs, the Railway Inn in Brockenhurst, where he died not long after. A marble headstone, paid for by locals, was erected over his grave in the churchyard of St Nicholas, Brockenhurst. It includes a carved tableau of him at work, in his distinctive wide-brimmed hat. The Railway Inn where Brusher Mills was a regular was renamed The Snakecatcher.

References

External links

The Snake Catcher (Brusher Mills)
- Southern Life
Images of Brusher Mills
fgo-stuart.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Brusher 1840 births 1905 deaths People from Lyndhurst, Hampshire