WILLIAM ERNEST MILLER

Image courtesy of Kelvin
Born: 1885, Ipswich.
Died: 9th February 1915; age 29; KiA – south of Ypres.
Residence: 491, Bramford Road, Ipswich.
Occupation: with Edward Packard & Co., Bramford, Suffolk.
Enlistment Details: Location: Ipswich.
Date of Entry Therein: 16th January 1915 – France.
Rank: Private; Service Number: 16167.
Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 1st Battalion.
Medals Awarded: Victory & British War.
Memorial Reference:
Panel 21.
West-Vlaanderen,
Belgium.
William is named in the 1st Battalion’s War Diary – killed alongside GEORGE BYGRAVE ALCOCK. Four Ipswich men died on this day from the 1st Battalion.
CENSUS
1891 Whitton, Suffolk.
William was 5 years old and living with his parents & siblings.
Benjamin Miller, 45, a Chemical Labourer, born Ipswich.
Eliza Miller (nee Clarke), 35, born Washbrook, Suffolk.
Lizzie Alice Miller, 14, a Mother’s Help, born Ipswich.
Rose Ellen Miller, 12, born Ipswich.
Benjamin William Miller, 10, born Ipswich.
Arthur Henry Miller, 8, born Ipswich.
Charles Frederick Miller, 3, born Ipswich.
Nellie May Miller, 11 months, born Ipswich.
1 lodger.
1911 491, Bramford Road, Ipswich.
William was 25 years old, a General Labourer. He was living with his widowed mother, siblings & niece.
Eliza, 55, a Laundress.
Benjamin, 30, a General Labourer.
Charles, 23, a General Labourer.
Emily Jane Miller, 19, a Laundress, born Ipswich.
Albert Miller, 15, a General Labourer, born Ipswich.
Edith Grace Miller, 11, born Ipswich.
Daisy Miller, 1, born Ipswich.
William’s father, Benjamin Miller, died on the 16th November 1904, Ipswich and was buried on the 21st November in Section Y at Ipswich Old Cemetery.
Soldiers’ Effects to mother – Eliza Miller, sisters – Elizabeth, Rose, Nellie & Edith, & brothers – Benjamin, Charles, Arthur & Albert.
William is also remembered on the Edward Packard & Co., factory memorial at St. Mary the Virgin Church, Bramford, Suffolk.

In April 1918, Eliza Miller, of 491, Bramford Road, Ipswich, received notification that her fourth son, Charles Frederick Miller, had been killed in action on the 22nd March 1918, in France.
In June 1918, Eliza Miller, of 491, Bramford Road, Ipswich, received a postcard from her son, Private Charles Miller, of the Suffolk Regiment, stating that he was well and a prisoner of war in Germany.
Extract from Lt-Col C.C.R.Murphy History of the Suffolk Regiment:
Throughout February 9th 1915 the enemy shelled unremittingly one part or another of the Verbrandenmolen sector. The trenches held by the 1st Battalion were shocking; those on the right were two feet deep in water. Battalion headquarters, despite the attention it received from the enemy’s artillery during the afternoon, remained intact.
Suffolk Regiment, 1st Battalion:
Suffolk Regiment Battalion movements


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