Sir Frederick Mills (c1865-1953) of the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Co
1954 Obituary [1]
WE record with regret the death of Sir Frederick Mills, Bart., which occurred, at Eastbourne, on Thursday of last week, December 31st.
For many years he occupied a prominent position in the British iron and steel industry and was, for more than thirty years, closely associated with the Ebbw Vale Steel, Coal and Iron Company.
Sir Frederick, who was eighty-eight, was born at West Hartlepool, and was educated at the Durham University College of Science.
He then served a five-year engineering apprenticeship with Palmers' Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Ltd., at Jarrow, and subsequently became the first steel works manager of the Stockton Malleable Works, which later became part of the South Durham Steel Company, Ltd.
In 1896, Sir Frederick became manager of the Glasgow Iron Company's steel works at Wishaw, where he remained for three years until being appointed general manager of the Ebbw Vale works.
In the succeeding years he initiated and successfully carried out a number of schemes for the modernisation and extension of the works.
Sir Frederick became managing director of the Ebbw Vale Steel, Coal and Iron Company in 1911 and was appointed chairman and managing director in 1919.
He relinquished those offices ten years later in order to devote himself to politics, serving as Member of Parliament for Leyton East continuously from 1931 until his retirement in 1945.
Sir Frederick became a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1896, was elected to its council in 1914, and served as president in 1925-26.