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16th January 1934

In 1855 William John Mills was born in Scorrier but the family moved back to St. Day when he was still a baby. The Mills family had lived in the town since 1758. St. Day was always extremely important to WJ Mills, it was here as a teenager he started his small dairy business selling butter and cheese, before moving first to Bristol and then to Tiverton in Devon to establish his dairy business, Duchess of Devonshire Dairy in 1900.

William never forgot his families roots in St Day and provided funds for repairing the town clock, improving the playing field and in creating a Benevolent Fund to support the Feast and provide Christmas gifts for the residents.

In addition to this William bought all the houses in Simmons Street, a total of 28 houses, for the poor and needy in 1930. Providing much needed housing to those who needed it most in St. Day. He improved the lighting in the street and by 1933 the St. Day people decided to change the name of the street to Mills Street. There was a huge ceremony with William’s son TR Mills and daughter Mrs Quinlan, plus other Mills family members, the Lord Lieutenant was there to cut a ribbon to celebrate the name change.

On 16th January 1934 WJ Mills died. His son TR took over the running of the properties, creating a system which provided
sufficient income to allow half of the residents to live rent-free, the other half paid two shillings a week! In 1952 TR Mills died and his son John Mills took over, along with Mrs Quinlan and Miss Enid Mills they were the family members that created the charitable trust to safe guard the future of the homes on Mills Street.

The Trust created more opportunities for the people of St. Day, with apprenticeships, courses for young people as well as upgrading the houses with inside bathrooms etc. The Trust has been run by the Mills family continually since the 1930s and in 1989 the Trust purchased commercial properties in Barracks Lane, including a former slaughterhouse, which were converted into a community centre, a flat and a house known as Mills Court. In 1997 the charitable trust built houses on derelict land, known as Mills Terrace, and in 2009 they built seven new bungalows at a cost of £1million for the less able residents – Mills Gardens.

The original houses in Mills Street were, in 1993, listed as being of historic and architectural interest as “an exceptionally well-preserved row of workers’ housing…having been built for the accommodation of miners”. There is a copper plaque and wreath on numbers 27 and 28 commemorating the endowment of the street by WJ Mills.

JW Mills Cottages Trust now have over 40 homes and they are all still rented out for the benefit of the people of St.Day.

Well done William.

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References:

Website for WJ Mills Cottages Trust

Booklet written in 2009 on the history of the Trust

Heritage image on Historic England website