Historical personality was really someone else
Last week, we told the story of Harry Mills, pioneer Okanagan prospector. In that article, I indicated that, “there is an unusual twist to Harry Mills’ life,” to be revealed in this week’s article.
Records for what is now Kelowna Pioneer Cemetery indicate that Harry Mills was buried in row 21A – plot 1. It was easy to find Harry Mills’ grave and its large granite marker. The inscription on this marker reads as follows:
2204 Pte Loftus Beard
1860-1939
Prince of Wales Own Yorkshire Regt.
“Lest We Forget”
And therein is the “unusual twist.”
The pioneer Okanagan miner and prospector was not named Harry Mills; his real name was Loftus Beard.
Last week, I quoted from Harry Mills’ obituary on page 2 of the March 30, 1939, edition of “The Kelowna Courier.” I omitted three sentences:
“In the first place, his name was not really Harry Mills, although he had been known by that name for most of his life. That was the name he took when he ran away from home in Lancashire, England as a boy and enlisted in a regiment bound for India.
“His real name was Loftus Beard.”
The obvious questions now are “Who was Loftus Beard? And why did he change his name to Harry Mills?”
The first question is relatively easy to answer, thanks to his unusual given birth name.
According to England’s National Registration of births, Loftus Beard was born in Lancashire in the OctoberDecember quarter of 1858. Various records indicate that his date of birth was Dec. 25, and so I am quite confident in stating that Loftus Beard was born on Dec. 25, 1858. Some records — including Mills’ BC Death Registration, his grave marker, and burial information — incorrectly give his year of birth as 1859 or 1860.
I do not have a copy of Loftus Beard’s English birth certificate, but his baptism record, found on Ancestry.ca, shows that he was baptized at Stayleybridge, Lancashire, England, on June 13, 1859. Mary Elizabeth Beard was his mother. His father’s name was not listed.
The 1861 England census returns for 11 Grove Road, Stayleybridge, provide information about Loftus Beard’s family.
He was listed as two years old and born at Stayleybridge, Cheshire. Identified as a “visitor,” Loftus was residing in the home of his grandmother, June Beard, a cotton weaver, born about 1815 at Charlesworth, Derbyshire.
Other members of June Beard’s household included her unmarried daughter Mary Elizabeth Beard (22 years old), and two sons Henry (15 years old) and
Joseph (age 10 years old). Mary Elizabeth, Henry, and Joseph Beard were all born at Stayleybridge and worked in the cotton industry.
In the 1871 England census, Loftus Beard was listed as the 12-year-old grandson of Jane Beard, head of the household. Other members in the Beard family were Mary E. Beard – identified as Jane Beard’s daughter – and Joseph Beard, Jane’s 19-year-old son.
Simon Pickford, living in England, responded to my enquiry about Loftus Beard:
“As you have indicated, Loftus was my third cousin twice removed. I suspect he (Loftus Beard) was disadvantaged from birth not having a registered father and the family was probably fairly poor in the cotton industry. My 3x great grandfather Joshua Pickford managed a large cotton mill in Hyde but the cotton industry went downhill in the 1860s. Many emigrated from the area.”
The 1881 England census provides some enlightening information. Loftus Beard – 22 years old, born in Lancashire, unmarried, stone mason — was no longer living with his mother and grandmother. In 1881, he was a prisoner in
Her Majesty’s Prison, at Cheetham, Lancashire.
On Jan. 3, 1881, Loftus Beard was convicted of “housebreaking and larceny.” Sentenced to six months imprisonment, he was incarcerated at Cheetham when the 1881 census information was collected.
According to the 1901 Canada census, Harry Mills (aka Loftus Beard) came to Canada in 1887. I have not located him in the 1891 Canada census, possibly because he may have been living in the United States at that time. In 1921, most of the 1890 United States census returns were destroyed by fire, and so information about Loftus Beard/Harry Mills in that census is not available.
So what we do know is Loftus Beard was born in Lancashire, England on
Dec. 25, 1858, son of Mary Elizabeth Beard and an unknown father. He spent his younger years with his mother and grandmother, receiving training as a stone mason. Convicted of housebreaking and larceny, he did six months in jail.
According to his grave marker, Loftus Beard served as a private with the Princes of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment. Details about his military service — when and where he served — have not been located.
What caused Loftus Beard to change his name to Harry Mills and leave England? We will probably never know, but can come up with a possible scenario. Son of a single, working class mother meant that Loftus Beard’s life was a struggle. Serving time in a British prison added to his difficulties; life in England must have been a challenge.
Victorian England’s rigid social and economic stratification offered little in the way of hope for Loftus Beard. Coming to Canada meant a new start for him. If Loftus Beard/Harry Mills left England in 1887, he would have been almost 30 years old.
Harry Mills wanted people in his new home, Canada, to know that his true identity. His grave marker, an enduring reminder of his existence, bears his birth name — Loftus Beard. He was not completely deny his past, perhaps wanting to be remembered for who he was.
This article is part of a series, submitted by the Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society. Additional information is always welcome at P.O Box 22105 Capri P.O., Kelowna, BC, V1Y 9N9.