Charles Mills (historian)
Charles Mills (1788–1826) was an English historian. His works include History of the Crusades for the Recovery and Possession of the Holy Land, History of Mohammedanism and History of Chivalry. Life Born on 29 July 1788 at Croom's Hill, Greenwich, he was youngest son of Samuel Gillam Mills, a surgeon. He was educated privately, and, after a brief experience in a merchant's counting-house, was articled in 1804 to a firm of solicitors. In 1810 he placed himself for a year's study in conveyancing under James Humphreys. Lung disease compelled Mills to winter in Nice in 1814–15. On inheriting a moderate fortune, he abandoned the law to write. He died of a recurrence of his old complaint at Southampton on 9 October 1826, unmarried. A few months before his death he was elected one of the knights of the British Order of Saint John, in recognition of his History of the Crusades. Mills's friend Augustine Skottowe published a Memoir (1828). Another friend was William Frederick Deacon, who dedicated his Innkeeper's Album (1823) to Mills. Works Mills was a follower of Edward Gibbon. His first work, An History of Muhammedanism (London, 1817, 2nd edit. 1818), had been seen in manuscript by Sir