Mr. Thomas Mills, J.P., Orchardist, Port Cygnet and Lymington, was born in County Wicklow, Ireland, in 1834, and in 1856 went to India, in the service of the East India Company. On the outbreak of the mutiny in June, 1857 Mr. Mills volunteered to the Bombay Artillery, and was on active service with the army in different parts of India for two years, during the suppression of the mutiny. At the close of the campaign he was promoted to the rank of sergeant, was transferred to the police service in October, 1859, and in 1865 was appointed superintendent of the Bombay City Police, a position he occupied honourably for many years.

During his career as a police officer be rendered valuable service in many important cases for which he received special rewards from the Government. In 1576 he obtained six months leave of absence, and came on a visit to Tasmania with his family, whom he left at Port Cygnet, and returned to India to complete his time for a pension. He retired from the Indian Service in 1551, with the pension and rank of senior superintendent of the Bombay City Police, and joined his family at Port Cygnet, where he settled down to horticultural pursuits.

Mr. Mills has been successful in fruit-growing, and has two splendid orchards, one at Port Cygnet and the other at Lymington.

Mr. Mills has always taken an active interest in local affairs. He has been a member of the local Road Trust off and on for the last fourteen years, and has occupied the position of chairman for some time. He at present presides over the local Fruit Board. He was married at the Cathedral, Bombay, in 1867, to Miss Hilda Ellen Shaw, of Dublin, and has a family of ten children living.