THE RECENT DEATH of Mrs Pat Edmunds, aged 94, is a reminder of the link between this town and one of its most famous philanthropists, Robert Mason Mills, founder of the aerated water business and generous benefactor to the Abbey Church. He was her great grandfather and she was proud of his achievements for the town and for his work as churchwarden although he was not actually a native of Bourne.

Mills (1819-1904) was born at Hackney in Middlesex where he learned his trade as a pharmacist and moved to Bourne in 1842 to become manager of the chemist’s shop at No 1 West Street owned by Frank Daniel and when he died three years later, bought the business from his widow. He married the same year and he and his new wife, Fanny, moved in to live over the shop where he stayed for the rest of his life.

The business prospered and in 1864 he began to manufacture aerated water under the name of Mills and Co., the Original Bourne Waters, a project that was to bring a new prosperity to himself and to the town. By 1878, the water had achieved a nationwide reputation and in that year, he brought in Thomas Moore Baxter, a young chemist who had been working in Brighton and had struck up a romantic attachment with his 22-year-old daughter Emily. Mr Mills decided to concentrate on the water side of the business while Baxter ran the shop and subsequently married Emily.

The manufacture and supply of aerated water was the first venture of its kind in this part of South Lincolnshire and his products were soon acclaimed world wide. During the Egyptian campaign of 1882 for instance, a large quantity of his mineral waters was sent out for British soldiers and the firm was later awarded a Royal Warrant for supplying Queen Victoria's son, the Duke of Connaught. Bottles of soda water and ginger beer were also sent in wooden cases by rail to hotels and country houses where the drinking water from wells was not always of a good quality. There was also a brisk trade in the hunting shires of Lincolnshire, Rutland and Leicestershire, where wealthy members of the Belvoir, Quorn and Cottesmore Hunts had their hunting boxes during the winter months.

Soft drinks also became popular during the summer with passengers taking train trips to the seaside and supplies were sent to various railway station waiting rooms around the country. The business grew so rapidly that it was soon employing 24 men and for almost half a century, the company had a distribution area extending from Doncaster in the north to Hatfield in the south as well as many intermediate stations.

Mills had many interests apart from his business. He was a prominent member of several archaeological societies and was an authority on local architecture. In 1860, he presided at a meeting held for the purpose of considering the erection of a public hall for the town and the result was the building of the Corn Exchange in 1870. He was also chairman of the town's water and gas companies, both undertakings that were subsequently purchased by Bourne Urban District Council. He was also a man of great artistic talent and when he died, he left a large collection of paintings and prints together with furniture, china and books that had been amassed at his home in West Street.

But most of his time, energy and money, were devoted to the Abbey Church, bearing much of the cost for the major work of 1881-82 and his generosity is marked by a plaque saying: "To record the restoration of the west end of this church by Robert Mason Mills of Bourne, this brass plate is placed by the congregation: 1883." Four years later, he paid for three new stained glass windows to be installed in the south wall to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The centre window bears in each corner the inscription Victoria Jubilee with the date 1887 in the middle.

He also completed the restoration of the nave in 1893, the chancel in 1903 together with the porch and south roof. He was, in fact, an ardent royalist and was particularly proud at having been born in 1819, the same year as Queen Victoria and whom he had seen in London when he was a child, and he wrote to her personally at Buckingham Palace on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 telling her of this coincidence.

His letter read: “May it please your Most Gracious Majesty to allow me as one of your humble and devoted subjects to congratulate you on your 78th birthday and also upon your reign of 60 years and may you continue to reign. I was born on 2nd April 1819. I had the honour of seeing your Majesty with the Duchess of Kent at the age of 8 years at Vauxhall, also at your Coronation and the Opening of Parliament and other State occasions. I feel I have been a devoted subject during your Majesty's glorious reign over a happy and contented people. May your Majesty continue in good health and strength to reign over your subjects for many years. I remain with the profoundest veneration, your Majesty's most faithful subject and devoted servant. - Robert Mason Mills, Bourne, Lincolnshire, 12th June 1897.”

His note may be regarded as sycophantic today and perhaps even seeking recognition and although he did get a reply from the Queen’s private secretary thanking him for his sentiments, there was no preferment. In fact, Mills is the one person from our history who should have been remembered for his public work but the honour never came.

Mrs Edmunds was the granddaughter of Thomas and Emily who were also dedicated workers for the Abbey Church and many other community projects in the town. She was similarly enthusiastic, being a founder of the Civic Society and was for some years a committee member, regularly opening her bungalow home in West Road for the annual garden party to raise much needed funds during the early years, remaining a dedicated supporter of the church that her distinguished ancestor did so much to preserve. She died at Digby Court on 18th November 2008 and a thanksgiving service was held in the church on Tuesday 2nd December followed by cremation at Peterborough.