Arthur F. H. Mills
{{Short description|English novelist (1887–1955)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Arthur F. H. Mills
| image = Hospital_days_1916.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = The author pictured on the dust jacket of his 1916 memoir, Hospital Days
| pseudonym =
| birth_name = Arthur Frederick Hobart Mills
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1887|7|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = Stratton, Cornwall, United Kingdom
| death_date = {{Death date|1955|2|18|df=y}}
| death_place = Hampshire, United Kingdom
| occupation = Author
| nationality = British
| ethnicity =
| citizenship = United Kingdom
| period =
| genre = War, Adventure, Crime
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = With My Regiment: From the Aisne to La Bassée (1916); Hospital Days (1916); The Yellow Dragon (1925)
| spouse = Lady Dorothy Rachel Melissa Walpole Mills (1889–1959); divorced in 1933
| partner =
| children =
| relatives = Grandfather:
Arthur Mills (MP);
Father:
Revd Barton R. V. Mills; Brother:
George Mills
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards =
| signature =
| website = {{URL|http://www.whoisgeorgemills.com/}}
| portaldisp =
}}
Arthur Frederick Hobart Mills was the son of the Rev. Barton Mills and Lady Catherine Hobart-Hampden, sister of the seventh Earl of Buckinghamshire.{{cite web |url= http://www.whoisgeorgemills.com/2010/05/rev-barton-mills.html |title= The Rev. Barton Mills |publisher= Who Is George Mills?|date=2010-04-07|accessdate=2024-10-18}} He was one of a family of authors. His grandfather, Arthur Mills, was a Tory Member of Parliament and an expert on colonial economies and governance. The senior Mills' India in 1858 describes the political and economic conditions in India after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Arthur F. H. Mills was the brother of children's book author George Mills (Meredith and Co., King Willow) and husband of author, explorer, and adventurer Lady Dorothy Mills (The Laughter of Fools, The Road to Timbuktu), to whom he was married from 1916 until their divorce in 1933.
Education and career
Captain Mills (Wellington College, Berkshire, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst) was gazetted into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in 1908 and served in China, India and Palestine.{{cite web |url= http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/arthur-mills.htm |title=Arthur Mills Bibliography |publisher= Classic Crime Fiction |accessdate=2024-10-18}} He was wounded in World War I at La Bassée and wrote a pair of books, his first, about that experience: With My Regiment: From the Aisne to La Bassée (J. B. Lippincott & Co.: Philadelphia, 1916) and Hospital Days (T. Fisher Unwin: London, 1916) under the pseudonym Platoon Commander. At his wedding to Lady Dorothy Walpole, daughter of the fifth Earl of Orford,{{cite web |url= http://www.whoisgeorgemills.com/2010/05/rev-barton-mills.html |title= The Rev. Barton Mills |publisher= Who Is George Mills?|date=2010-04-07|accessdate=2024-10-18}} in 1916, her wedding ring was made from a bullet that had been surgically removed from his ankle.{{cite web |url=http://www.whoisgeorgemills.com/2010/04/1914-georges-brother-goes-to-war.html |title=1914: George's Brother Goes to War |publisher= Who Is George Mills?|date=2010-04-07|accessdate=2016-08-04}}
Despite favourable reviews, frequent impressions, and global translations of many of his earlier books (The Broadway Madonna, The Gold Cat), Mills eventually became known as a genre author of cheap crime and adventure novels.{{cite web |url= http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/arthur-mills.htm |title=Arthur Mills Bibliography |publisher= Classic Crime Fiction |accessdate=2016-08-04}} His work has been largely forgotten.{{cite web |url= http://www.greatwardustjackets.co.uk/index-22.html |title=Great War Dust Jackets |publisher= greatwardustjackets.co.uk |accessdate=2016-08-04}}
Bibliography
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Title
! Publisher ! Date ! Pseudonym | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73692 With My Regiment: From the Aisne to La Bassée] | Lippincott | 1916 | "Platoon Commander" |
| Hospital Days | Unwin | 1916 | "Platoon Commander" |
| Ursula Vanet | Bale | 1921 | |
| Pillars of Salt | Duckworth | 1922 | |
| The Primrose Path | Duckworth | 1923 | |
| The Yellow Dragon | Hutchinson | 1924 | |
| The Broadway Madonna | Unknown | 1924 | |
| The Gold Cat | Hutchinson | 1925 | |
| The Danger Game | Hutchinson | 1926 | |
| Live Bait | Hutchinson | 1927 | |
| Modern Cameos | Hutchinson | 1928 | |
| White Snake | Hutchinson | 1928 | |
| The Blue Spider | Collins | 1929 | |
| Pursued | Collins | 1929 | |
| The Apaché Girl | Collins | 1930 | |
| Intrigue Island | Collins | 1930 | |
| Escapade | Collins | 1931 | |
| Stowaway | Collins | 1931 | |
| One Man's Secret | Collins | 1932 | |
| Judgment of Death | Collins | 1932 | |
| Gentleman of Rio | Collins | 1933 | |
| Black Royalty | Collins | 1933 | |
| The Ant Heap | Hutchinson | 1934 | |
| Paris Agent | Collins | 1935 | |
| Brighton Alibi | Collins | 1936 | |
| Café in Montparnasse | Collins | 1936 | |
| French Girl | Collins | 1937 | |
| The Broken Sword | Collins | 1938 | |
| Jewel Thief | Collins | 1939 | |
| White Negro | Collins | 1940 | |
| Don't Touch the Body | Collins | 1947 | |
| Shroud of Snow | Evans | 1950 | |
| Last Seen Alive | Evans | 1951 | |
| Your Number Is Up | Evans | 1952 | |
| The Jockey Died First | Staples | 1953 | |
| The Maliday Mystery | Staples | 1954 |
References
External links
- [http://www.whoisgeorgemills.com/ Who Is George Mills?]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZibAAAAMAAJ&q=%22aisne+to+la+bassee%22+%22platoon+commander%22%2F&pg=PP9 Google Books: With My Regiment]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Arthur F. H.}}
Category:People from Stratton, Cornwall
Category:English male novelists