Frederick William MILLS b. 1873 Bermondsey d. 06 Mar 1920 Livingstone, South Africa of Pleurisy & Pneumonia: Mills/Rushton Family History

1873 - 1920 (47 years)

Name	Frederick William MILLS
Birth	1873	Bermondsey
Birth	Jun Q 1873 1d 212 St. Olave
Christening	03 Jan 1875	St. Giles, Camberwell, Southwark
Gender	Male
Travel	12 Sep 1890	Dartmouth to Cape Town. SS Norham Castle,
Travel	Possible first voyage to South Africa with his father
Census	1891	47, Trinity Road, Streatham
	Recorded as a Grocer's Assistant. (Working for his father)
		1891 Census Frederick William Mills and family
Address	1897	"Fovant Hut", 12, Noyna Road, Tooting Bec, London. SW17
Address		Fovant Hut and Mews. 12,Noyna Road, Tooting Bec, London. SW17 The drainage plans for these buildings at 12 Noyna Road from 1897 (ref: ST21/3355) specifies that they were built for use as plumbers, upholsterers and joiners workshops. They were built for Mr. F.W. Mills of 49 Trinity Road who is listed in the Tooting street directory of 1897 as Frederick William Mills, a grocer. Courtesy of Phillip Manners, Tooting Historical Society. The reference may well be to Frederick Senior.
Death	06 Mar 1920	Livingstone, South Africa of Pleurisy & Pneumonia
Burial		Freddie and Martine Mills Gravestone. Livingstone Old Cemetery http://www.eggsa.org/library/main.php?g2_itemId=2696225
Notes	The extracts from the Northern Rhodesia Journal can be found at http://www.nrzam.org.uk/ Photos of the North Western Hotel are reproduced by kind permission of John Fletcher. More of his work can be seen at:- http://www.pbase.com/h4xintl/vic_falls
Person ID	I1471	Mills/Rushton Family History
Last Modified	23 Feb 2015

Father	Frederick William GARRETT, b. 09 Sep 1850, Fovant, Wiltshire d. 19 July 1931, Bournemouth (Age 80 years)
Mother	Mary Ann ROSE, b. 1851, Alderholt d. 4 Oct 1938, Bournemouth (Age 87 years)
Marriage	1872	Bermondsey ?
Family ID	F378	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Martine Johanna MEHOUSE, b. 28 Mar 1869 d. 6 Apr 1933, Livingstone, Rhodesia (Age 64 years)

Marriage 6 Apr 1896 Bulawayo

From:- Rhodesia's Pioneer Women (1859-1896)
http://rhodesianheritage.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/rhodesias-pioneer-women-1859-1896.html

"MRS. MILL, 1896
Née Martine Johanna Mehouse. The registration of her marriage is to be found in the C.A.(Central African) Archives, Salisbury. Married in Bulawayo, 6th April, 1896. Mr. F. W. Mill was a steward."
Maybe an American lady ?
Was the Steward FW Mill, Freddies father, Frederick William Garrett or his occupation?

Travel 7 Aug 1897 Southampton to South Africa

Fred sailed on 7th Aug 1897 on the SS Gaika bound for Cape Town. (49 days)
His "wife" left a week later on the 14th Aug on the SS Avondale Castle bound for Natal.(65 days)

It is not known why they travelled separately

Travel 01 Jun 1907 Natal to Southampton. SS Kildonan Castle

Mrs Mills and Miss Mills.
Probably Fred's daughter and his 2nd wife.

Travel 25 May 1912 Cape Town to Southampton. SS Kinfauns Castle

Mr FW Mills travelling alone.

Travel 02 Nov 1912 Southampton to South Africa. SS Britain

MR FW Mills. Return voyage to South Africa

Notes

The City of Livingstone was born on 25 February, 1905, much to the annoyance of the white pioneers who had come to the area. These hardy men and women had settled themselves by the river, 5 km upstream from the Victoria Falls and they felt that a move up to the new Livingstone would be disastrous for trade. The British South African Company (BSAC), who administered this area of Central Africa had, in 1905, completed the Victoria Falls bridge and felt that it was about time to move the pioneers from the mosquito-infested swamplands by the river where the people had lived for the past 10 years. The BSAC had to enforce the edict by giving fines of one shilling per day for anyone who failed to move. Eventually the old settlement was abandoned. There is not much to see at the original site, known as the Old Drift, only some non-indigenous trees and the graves of some of the many who died there. It is now within the Game Park.

The first buildings to be erected at the new Livingstone were made of poles and mud, with tin roofs. The site was high up on a sand ridge in the middle of a forest of teak trees. The railway line had only reached the station, about one km away - quite a distance to walk on the sandy roads. The people were not happy in the new Livingstone and wondered what was to become of them. Then the BSAC decided to move their administrative center from Kalomo to Livingstone. From 1907 to 1935, Livingstone was the capital of North Western Rhodesia, and this was a time of prosperity. It was during these years that many buildings were erected.

We often consider these times as being romantic, and to us it must seem that way, but life was not easy. Water was a continual problem - it had to be pumped up from the Maramba River and bucketed to the houses. The toilets of all the houses were sited at the back of the yards where the bucket brigade using ox-carts came every morning to empty the sanitary buckets. All the roads were deep sand, making a walk of any distance tiresome. A tram-line was laid from town to the railway station and then on to the boat club. Small cabooses were made for people to sit on and they were pushed up and down the hill by servants. Many of the old houses which were built at this time have fallen into a state of disrepair. But some are being lovingly restored and are well worth looking for. In the future if the economy continues to pick up more will be restored and this will enhance the beauty of Livingstone.

http://www.africa-ata.org/livingstone_2.htm
Old Drift Cemetery

This cemetery is now almost the only surviving trace of the first European settlement of Livingstone. It is about one and a half kilometres upstream of the entrance to the Mosi-Oa-Tunya Zoological Park.

The presence of an urban settlement in this area owed to two major factors: the line of the main entry-route from the south into the then North-Western Rhodesia, and the proximity of the Victoria Falls. Prior to the construction of the railway all goods imported into Northwestern Rhodesia were carried by ox - or mule-drawn wagons and ferries across the Zambezi at the point, some nine kilometres upstream of the Victoria Falls, where the river is at its narrowest for some distance. The northern end of this crossing, known as the Old Drift or Sekuti's Drift, (after the Toka chief whose village was then nearby), soon became the first European settlers' town...

The first settler, F.J.Clarke, arrived in 1898 and set himself up as a trader, hotel-keeper and forwarding agent. By 1903 the European population had grown to sixty-eight, including seventeen women and six children. The British South Africa company established an administrative post nearby.

In most years some twenty percent of the settlers died and in 1903 the figure was considerably higher. Many of these early settlers were buried [here]

The railway from Bulawayo reached the south bank of the Zambezi at the Victoria Falls in April, 1904 and ... the bridge was officially opened in September 1903.

As soon as work began on the bridge it was apparent that, with the completion of the railway, the Old Drift would fall into disuse and that the only argument for retaining the Livingstone settlement in that unhealthy spot would fall away.

Children

+	1. Dorothy Rhoda MILLS, b. 21 April 1898, Bulawayo, Rhodesia, South Africa d. 6 Aug 1976, Turnpike Cottage, Chequers Lane, Eversley, Hook, Hants (Age 78 years)

Documents

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