MILLS, David
(Service number 78581)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 12/07/1878 | Place of Birth | Queensland, Australia |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | 6 Butler Street, Timaru | ||
| Occupation | Transport worker | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Married | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs Bertha MILLS (wife), 6 Butler Street, Timaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 40th Reinforcements, A Company | ||
| Date | 10 July 1918 | ||
| Transport | Tahiti | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | Plymouth, Devon, England | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
Award Circumstances and Date
No information
Prisoner of War Information
| Date of Capture | |
|---|---|
| Where Captured and by Whom | |
| Actions Prior to Capture | |
| PoW Serial Number | |
| PoW Camps | |
| Days Interned | |
| Liberation Date |
Death
| Date | 14 July 1946 | Age | 68 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Timaru | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Cremated | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
David Mills was born on 12 July 1878 in Queensland, Australia, the son of Nicholas and Sarah (née Head) Leone. So who was David Mills? It appears he was born Michael Leone. His father was born in Greece and married Sarah Head from Tipperary, Ireland, in Queensland in 1877. In New Zealand, as David Mills, he married Timaru-born Bertha Clarke, nine years older than David, on 16 April 1906 in Dunedin. By 1911 David and Bertha were living in Timaru and in 1917 he was listed on the World War One Reserve Rolls at Timaru. On enlisting, he was a transport worker and named his wife as next-of-kin. Private D. Mills embarked for Plymouth, England, on 10 July 1918, with the 40th Reinforcements per the “Tahiti”. Rifleman D. Mills of Timaru returned to New Zealand by the “Somerset” which was due at Lyttelton about 12 August 1919. Bertha died at their Timaru home on 29 June 1926 after a long illness and was buried in the Timaru Cemetery. David and Bertha had no family. In 1927 David married Evelyn Muriel Agar, who was ten years younger than David. Evelyn was to die tragically just four years later. She was killed instantaneously on 15 November 1931 when a large willow tree crashed on to their picnic party in the Waihi riverbed near Geraldine. Evelyn, who left a 3½ year old son, was buried at Lyttelton. Post war David was a fish merchant at Timaru. David Mills died on 14 July 1946 at Timaru, aged 68. He had drawn up his Will in August 1930, leaving all, after expenses, in trust for his wife, Evelyn Muriel Mills, and if she should predecease him, for any surviving children. He also directed that his body be cremated and that “the cost of and incidental to conveying my remains to the nearest crematorium and cremating such remains be paid out of my estate.” Mary Clarke, married woman of Timaru, provided the affidavit of David Mills’ death.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [20 May 2021]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [20 May 2021]; Queensland, Australia, birth index [21 May 2021]; ref. to probate record (Archives NZ/Family Search) [21 May 2021]; Timaru Herald, 30 July 1919, 30 June 1926, 8 July 1926, 16 & 17 November 1931 (Papers Past) [26 April 2021; 20 May 2021]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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