A trade advertisement for this enterprise (1919) illustrated its main products (carving knives, table cutlery, pocket knives, razors, and scissors) gave an establishment date (1886), and provided a picture of its trade mark (a sewing machine).  The address was Hanover Works. 

Frank Mills (1860-1932) was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Mills.  At the time of his son’s birth, Samuel was a clothes dealer and table knife blade grinder.  Frank worked initially as a scale cutter (self-tip and stag horn).  The first directory listing of Frank Mills was in 1893 in Charlotte Street, as a table knife manufacturer.  His partners were Walter Henry Greenstreet and William Luther Knowles, but in 1897 this partnership was dissolved.  In 1898, F. Mills & Co registered a silver mark from Hanover Works in Division Street, where it was subsequently listed as a manufacturer and merchant of a wide range of cutlery products.  In 1903, it became Frank Mills & Co Ltd (capital £5,000).  51 Division Street remained the address until the end of the First World War, when it began to advertise electro-plated goods.  A move was made to Carver Street and the firm began dealing in spring knife materials, besides general cutlery.

Frank Mills, Grasmere, Bates Street, died on Christmas Day in 1932, leaving £1,035.  Afterwards, the firm’s address was 135 Scotland Street – the same as Nowill, which had acquired Mills’ assets and marks.  The latter included ‘TRIMILS’ (a picture of three windmills and the words ‘WEARWELL’).  The Trimils mark was later used by F.E. & J.R. Hopkinson Ltd.