Major Hiram Mills (c. 1796–1882) was an American-born philanthropist.

Originally from Virginia, Mills moved to Montreal at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.[1][2] Mills inherited a substantial sum from his father, who had been a plantation owner, but generally declined to discuss his previous career and asked that no obituary be published for him.[1]

Mills was a generous, but eccentric, philanthropist.[2] The Irish Canadian newspaper reported that he had been a board member of every Protestant charity in Montreal,[1] and in 1879 he helped finance the establishment of a new hospital in the western end of the city.[3] At one point, Mills offered $20,000 to the city to purchase bread for the poor, but attached so many conditions to the bequest that it was refused.[2]

Mills joined a Southern Masonic Lodge in 1819 and, upon his death in 1882, it was reported that he had been amongst the oldest, if not the oldest, Freemason in Canada.[1][2]

Mills bequeathed $43,000 to McGill College (now McGill University) to establish a gold medal, a scholarship, and an endowed chair in classics.[4] Mills left a further $30,000 to the Western Hospital and $20,000 to the Anglican church, but left no provision for his widow.[5] McGill College and the Anglican synod established a pension of $450 per annum for Mrs. Mills.[5]

Mills is interred in a mausoleum at Mount Royal Cemetery.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Home and Foreign News". The Irish Canadian. 10 August 1882. p. 2. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Canada's Oldest Freemason Dead". New York Times. 4 August 1882. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  3. ↑ Nicholl, Christopher (1994). Bishop's University, 1843-1970. McGill-Queen's Press. pp. 351–352. ISBN 9780773511767.
  4. ↑ Dawson, William (1894). "Thirty-eight Years of M'Gill". The Montreal Medical Journal. 22: 495.
  5. 1 2 "Educational Notes". The Toronto Mail. 29 June 1883. p. 6. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Young, Brian J. (2003). Respectable Burial: Montreal's Mount Royal Cemetery. McGill-Queen's Press. pp. 49. ISBN 9780773570986.
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