William Mills (inventor) William Mills (inventor) Sir William Mills (24 April 1856 - 1932) of Sunderland was an English engineer, who invented the Mills bomb which was developed and manufactured at his factory in Birmingham, England. The Mills bomb was the hand grenade most widely used by British and Imperial forces during the First World War. He was knighted in 1922. William Mills was born on 26 April 1856 in Wear Street, Southwick, Sunderland. He was the son of David Mills, a shipbuilder, and his wife Sarah Ann Kirkaldy. The Sunderland historian James Watson Corder recorded that David Mills had an interest in
Transport in Birmingham navigable. Birmingham is often lauded as having more miles of canal than Venice, true by a margin of nine miles (Venice has 26 miles). Birmingham however includes many semi-urban parts and is far larger than Venice making for a much lower canal density (concentration). The type of waterway is inland providing the main access to few properties. This contrasts to Venice's broad coastal canals providing the main means of access, surrounded by a lagoon of the Adriatic Sea. By water volume (taking into account depths), Birmingham has more cubic meters of water in its canals than any other city in