Charles William Mills, 2nd Baron Hillingdon (26 January 1855 – 6 April 1919) was a British banker and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1885 to 1892, speaking once, in 1889. Mills was the eldest son of

Charles Mills, 1st Baron Hillingdon Charles Henry Mills, 1st Baron Hillingdon (26 April 1830 – 3 April 1898), known from 1872 to 1886 as Sir Charles Mills, 2nd Baronet, was a British banker and Conservative politician. Early life Mills was born at Camelford House, Park Lane, Lo ...

and Lady Louisa Isabella (d.1918), daughter of

Henry Lascelles, 3rd Earl of Harewood Henry Lascelles, 3rd Earl of Harewood DL (11 June 1797 – 22 February 1857), known as Viscount Lascelles from 1839 to 1841, was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Background Lascelles was born in 1797. He was the second son of Henry L ...

. He was a lieutenant in the

Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry The Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry was a British Army regiment formed in 1794. It served in the Second Boer War and the First World War. It amalgamated with the Royal East Kent (The Duke of Connaught's Own) Yeomanry (Mounted Rifles) to form the ...

and a partner in the banking firm of Glyn, Mills & Co. In the 1885 general election, Mills was elected as member of parliament (MP) for the inceptive

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...

in which he owned The Wildernesse, setting up community allotments and an orphanage there. He stood down from the Commons at the 1892 general election. In 1898 he inherited the title

Baron Hillingdon Baron Hillingdon, of Hillingdon in the County of Middlesex, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom held by the Mills family. The family descended from William Mills, who married Elizabeth Digby. Their son was Charles Mills, a Director ...

and Hillingdon Court outright. In the same year Hillingdon commissioned

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memorials ...

, who was then working locally, to design

Overstrand Hall Overstrand Hall is a country house in Overstrand, Norfolk, England, designed by Edwin Lutyens for Charles William Mills, 2nd Baron Hillingdon, a partner in Glyn, Mills & Co. Bank. It was built between 1899 and 1901 and is Grade II listed as of ...

. Its work began in 1899 and it was completed by 1901.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

considered it one of Lutyens' most remarkable buildings, but other critics of the day thought it "lacked the picturesqueness of his best works". Lord Hillingdon was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

in March 1900. Hillingdon was godfather to

Harry Elkins Widener Harry Elkins Widener (January 3, 1885 – April 15, 1912) was an American businessman and bibliophile, and a member of the Widener family. His mother built Harvard University's Widener Memorial Library in his memory, after his death on the foun ...

, son of

George Dunton Widener George Dunton Widener (June 16, 1861 – April 15, 1912) was an American businessman who died in the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic''. Early life Widener was born in Philadelphia on June 16, 1861. He was the eldest son of Hannah Josephine Du ...

who both perished on the ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

.'' He died in April 1919, aged 64, and was succeeded in the barony by his second son

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

, the MP for

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

, elected unopposed to replace his elder brother. Charles Thomas Mills was killed on the Western Front in France in 1915. Hillingdon married Alice Marion Harbord, daughter of

Charles Harbord, 5th Baron Suffield Charles Harbord, 5th Baron Suffield (2 January 1830 – 9 April 1914), was a British peer, courtier and Liberal politician. A close friend of Edward VII, he served as a Lord of the Bedchamber and Lord-in-waiting to the King. He also held politi ...

, in 1886. They were given Overstrand Hall as a wedding present. Lord Hillingdon's probate was sworn in 1919 at as was that of his mother at a little over 5% of that sum.https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk Calendar of Probates and Administrations

Arms

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillingdon, Charles Mills, 2nd Baron 1855 births 1919 deaths Volunteer Force officers 19th-century British Army personnel Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom British bankers Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry officers UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 Hillingdon, B2 19th-century British businesspeople