John Mills & Sons shoe shop

The firm of John Mills & Sons was founded in 1858 by John Mills (1838 - 1922) who was a native of Peterborough. His first employment was as an agricultural labourer in Lincolnshire, although in his teenage years he removed with his family to Newark. Here his father, a basket-maker, quickly found work in the town's willow basket-making trade. Young John Mills was put to work in the boot repairing b…