{{short description|British playwright}} '''Clifford Mills''' (aka Emlie Clifford, née Bennet) (1863–1933) was a British playwright, best known for the plays ''Where the Rainbow Ends'' and ''The Luck of the Navy.''

== Career == Mills's real name was Emlie (aka Emilie) Clifford.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|date=20 July 1933|title=Obituary. Mrs Clifford Mills|journal=The Stage|pages=5}}</ref> She adopted the pseudonym Clifford Mills because, as a woman writer, she was unable to get published under her own name. Clifford Mills was derived from her husband's name Harold Mills Clifford, who she married in 1889.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Clifford Mills (aka Emilie Clifford nee Bennet & Mrs H. Mills Clifford)|url=https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/db/person/1749/|access-date=2020-06-16|website=Great War Theatre|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616030357/https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/db/person/1749/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The inspiration for the fairy story play ''Where the Rainbow Ends'' came from a poem written by her daughter Evelyn. The play was co-authored with John Ramsay with music by Roger Quilter. Ramsay did not contribute to the content of the play but helped with the technical aspects of playwrighting. It was first staged in December 1911 and was presented at Christmas time from then until 1959, only missing two years.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{cite book|author=Langfield|first=Valerie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDrwGcTBNb4C&pg=PA40|title=Roger Quilter: His Life and Music|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|year=2002|isbn=978-0-85115-871-6|pages=38–41}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=13 December 1951|title=Where the Rainbow Ends. A Christmas favourite for 40 years|page=2|work=The Times (London)|issue=52183}}</ref> ''Where the Rainbow Ends'' was also published as a book in 1912.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last1=Mills|first1=Clifford|title=Where the Rainbow Ends. A fairy story ... based on the fairy play 'Where the Rainbow Ends'|last2=Ramsey|first2=John|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|year=1912|location=London|language=en|oclc=563059675}}</ref>

Mills wrote seven plays including the comedy ''The Basker'' and ''The Luck of the Navy'' a spy story which was turned into a film in 1927.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Luck Of The Navy|url=https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/db/script/2700/|access-date=2020-06-16|website=Great War Theatre|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428032333/https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/db/script/2700/|url-status=live}}</ref> ''The Luck of the Navy'' was first performed in 1918 but continued to be performed post-war in London and by touring companies. Between 1919 and 1930 it was performed over 900 times in 148 theatres.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Brooks|first=Helen E.M.|url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/43023|title=Revival After the Great War: Rebuild, Remember, Repair, Reform|publisher=Leuven University Press|year=2020|isbn=9789462702509|editor-last=Verpoest|editor-first=Luc|pages=167|chapter=Remembering the War: From Resistance to Reconstruction|doi=10.11116/9789461663542|access-date=2021-11-30|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130023953/https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/43023|url-status=live}}</ref> It was also performed internationally:<ref name=":4" /> in Adelaide in 1920, Sydney in 1928 and Wellington in 1920.<ref>{{Cite news|date=12 August 1920|title=THE LUCK OF THE NAVY|work=Daily Herald|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106551306|access-date=2021-11-30|via=Trove|archive-date=2023-01-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123043236/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106551306|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=19 August 1928|title=The Luck of the Navy|work=Sunday Times|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122810322|access-date=2021-11-30|via=Trove|archive-date=2023-01-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123043232/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122810322|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=4 March 1920|title=Amusements|work=Dominion|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19200304.2.77.2|access-date=30 November 2021|via=PapersPast|archive-date=30 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130023950/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19200304.2.77.2|url-status=live}}</ref> ''In Nelson's Days'' was a romantic historical drama.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Nicoll|first=Allardyce|title=English drama, 1900-1930; the beginnings of the modern period.|publisher=University Press|year=1973|isbn=0-521-08416-4|location=Cambridge [England]|pages=198, 245, 835|oclc=588815}}</ref> thumb|150px|Grave of Clifford Mills in Highgate Cemetery Evelyn Shillington (d. 1981), Mills's daughter, kept diaries of her life as a military wife during World War II; they were published as ''Eve's War.''<ref>{{Cite web|date=18 October 2017|title=Fascinating war diaries of military wife Eve are brought to light thanks to 'diary detective'|url=https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/15603022.fascinating-war-diaries-of-military-wife-eve-are-brought-to-light-thanks-to-diary-detective/|access-date=2020-06-15|website=Bournemouth Echo|language=en|archive-date=2020-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615082042/https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/15603022.fascinating-war-diaries-of-military-wife-eve-are-brought-to-light-thanks-to-diary-detective/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Shillington|first=Evelyn|title=Eve's war.|date=2017|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=978-0-7515-6702-1|location=Place of publication not identified|language=en|oclc=950476490}}</ref>

Mills died on 2 July 1933 in London and is buried in Highgate cemetery.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=15 July 1933|title=A London recluse|page=5|work=Coventry Evening Telegraph}}</ref>

== Selected works ==

=== Plays ===

* ''One of these Little Ones'' (1909)<ref name=":1" /> * ''Where the Rainbow Ends'' (1911)<ref name=":1" /> * ''The Basker'' (1916)<ref name=":1" /> * ''The Luck of the Navy'' (1918)<ref name=":1" /> * ''Virginia'' (1921)<ref name=":1" /> * ''In Nelson's Days'' (1922)<ref name=":1" /> * ''The Man from Hong Kong'' (1925)<ref name=":1" />

=== Books ===

* ''Where the Rainbow Ends'' (1912)<ref name=":3" />

== References == <references />

== Further reading ==

* Maslen, Rob (2019) ''[https://fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/imperialist-fantasy-clifford-mills-where-the-rainbow-ends/ The City of Lost Books. Imperialist Fantasy: Clifford Mills, Where the Rainbow Ends] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805160225/https://fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/imperialist-fantasy-clifford-mills-where-the-rainbow-ends/ |date=2020-08-05 }}'' (1912). Fantasy MLitt, Glasgow University.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Clifford}} Category:1863 births Category:1933 deaths Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery Category:English women dramatists and playwrights