Richard Mills (16 February 1798 – 25 January 1882) was an English professional cricketer who played mainly for Kent from 1825 to 1843.Carlaw, pp. 388–389. (Retrieved 21 December 2020.)
Career Mills was born at Pump Farm, Benenden in Kent in 1798.Richard Mills, CricInfo. Retrieved 10 December 2018. He made his debut in 1825 for Kent against Sussex at Brighton, going on to play a total a total of 47 matches. A left-handed batsman and left arm medium pace roundarm bowler, Mills played mainly for Kent, including one match for the newly formed Kent County Cricket Club in 1843 at Hemsted Park near his home in Benenden.Kent against England, The Sporting magazine; or Monthly calendar of the transactions of the turf, the chace, and every other diversion interesting to the man of pleasure and enterprize, 1843, p.264. (Available online. Retrieved 2 December 2017). He played six times for the Players in the Gentlemen v Players series, four times for England teams and for the South in the North v. South series.Richard Mills, CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
Mills was said to be "one of the strongest professionals in the country".Cook TA (1914) The Curves of Life, p252. London: Constable. (Available online. Retrieved 10 December 2018.)Notions on cricket in The Sporting Magazine, 1839, vol.94, p.387. (Available online. Retrieved 10 December 2018.) Benenden produced a number of fine cricketers and, in 1836, Mills played with fellow Kent and Benenden man Ned Wenman against a full team of 11 players from the Isle of Oxney on the border between Kent and Sussex. Mills and Wenman won the match which had been organised as a wager.Mills T (1983) Runs in the family, The Cricketer, republished at CricInfo. Retrieved 10 December 2018.Ward A (2016) 'Two against 11 1936' in Cricket's Strangest Matches. London: Pavilion. (Available online. Retrieved 10 December 2018.A brief history of Benenden Cricket Club, Benenden Cricket Club, 16 June 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2017. The event is recorded on the Benenden village sign.Village Sign, Benenden. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
Mills came from a cricketing family which on at least one occasion is reported to have played as a family team against Benenden. His brother, George, played occasionally for Kent between 1825 and 1829, making his debut in the same match as Richard.George Mills, CricInfo. Retrieved 10 December 2018. George also played in the 1831 Gentlemen v Players match, possibly a match which Richard had been invited to play in but, due to the method of addressing professionals simply by their surname, the invitation is reported to have been misunderstood.Time Gentlemen, Please, The Chap, 12 August 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
A benefit match was played for Mills in 1861 at Swifts Park in Cranbrook.Chairman's message – history telescoped, Elham Historical Society, vol.2, iss.5, May 2012, p.1. Retrieved 10 December 2018. He retired to Rolvenden in Kent where he died in 1882 aged 83.Census and Cricketers in the Leigh Area: 1881, Leigh & District Historical Society. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
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