Charles Mills (26 November 1866 – 26 July 1948) was a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played in one

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1892.

Life and career

Born in London, to Charles Mills a writing engraver and Sarah Jane Wilkinson, Charles Mills was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2-18 private, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

in London. After leaving school he briefly studied art before deciding to become a professional cricketer. W. A. Bettesworth
"Chats on the Cricket Field: C. Mills"
''Cricket'', 1 June 1905, pp. 161-62. A medium-pace bowler and a steady batsman, he played for

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

from 1885 to 1896, mostly for the club's secondary teams, but including two first-class matches in 1888. With his Surrey colleague

Bill Brockwell William Brockwell (21 January 1865 – 1 July 1935) was an English cricketer. Although primarily remembered as a batsman, he began his career as a fast-medium bowler. With George Lohmann, Tom Richardson and William Lockwood carrying all before ...

, Mills went to South Africa for the 1889–90 season in the hope of finding a coaching position, which they both did in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

. In Mills's first match for the Kimberley Club he scored 297, which was at the time a record score in South Africa. He played a first-class match for

later that season, when Brockwell took 10 wickets in an innings victory over

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

. In 1890-91 Mills took up a coaching position in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, where he stayed for four years, playing in the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

team that won the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

in 1893–94. In March 1892 he played for

in the Test against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, scoring 4 and 21 in a match in which the highest score by a South African batsman was 24. Mills toured England with the South African team in 1894, in which no first-class matches were played, scoring 452 runs at an average of 14.58, and taking 28 wickets at 23.71. He took his best bowling figures in his last first-class match, for Western Province in the final of the 1894–95 Currie Cup against

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

: 5 for 36 in the second innings. He returned to England in the mid-1890s. He coached in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and at the English public schools Haileybury, Bradfield and

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross, close to the Hertfordshire border. It was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it b ...

. He umpired

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

matches, mostly involving

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, from 1904 to 1906.

References

External links

*
Charles Mills
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Charles 1866 births 1948 deaths People from Peckham Cricketers from the London Borough of Southwark People educated at Dulwich College South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers English cricketers Griqualand West cricketers Surrey cricketers Western Province cricketers English cricket coaches Cape Colony cricketers Cricketers from Surrey