Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916

CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916

Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916

Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916

Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918

L/Cpl 33216 Henry Miller

Age: 28
From: Liverpool
Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
K.I.A Monday 10th July 1916
Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

L/Corporal 33216 Henry Miller, 17^th Battalion, KLR.

Henry "Harry" Miller was born in the September quarter of 1887 to John Miller and his wife Ada Moon (née Benson), both born in Liverpool, were married in 1884, and had eight children, three of whom sadly died young. Henry had an older sister Elizabeth, and younger brothers John, Alfred, Edwin, and Joseph. He was baptised on 14th August 1887 with the family address being 31 Priory Grove, and his father's occupation as a brick layer.

In 1891 John 30, a bricklayer, and Ada 27, are living at 31 Priory Grove, Everton, with Elizabeth, 5, Henry, 3, and John, 1.

His mother Ada died in 1899 at the age of 36.

In 1901 Henry, 14, with siblings John, 12, and Joseph, 3, and their widowed father, a bricklayer, are living with Henry’s grandfather, John Miller, 78, at 4 Aber Street. Also in the household are his uncle James Miller, and aunt Ellen Banks (his father’s sister) and her two older children. Henry and his siblings are incorrectly listed as Banks.

By the 1911 census Henry and his brother John are listed in a lodging house at 13 Salisbury Street, Everton. Henry, 23, is a brick setter, and John, 21, is a carter for an earthenware dealer. His father and youngest brother Joseph are living at 33 Napier Street. His father is 51, a brick setter, Joseph is 13, at school.

He enlisted in Liverpool as Private 33216, joining the 17th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served for one year before he was killed, perhaps marrying before he shipped overseas.

Harry married Mary Lynam in West Derby Register Office in the December quarter of 1915. No children were born to the marriage.

Harry’s Service Record is not available though the Medal Rolls do have him listed as Harry Miller and show that he earned the Victory and British War Medals. He was killed in actlon at Trones Wood on 10^th July 1916, although he was originally posted as Missing between 10-12 July.

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II;

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary. The place was Death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination, the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

His name appeared in the list of the K.L.R. Missing published in the Liverpool Post & Mercury on 7th September 1916.

On 2nd October 1916 Mary appealed for information in the Liverpool Echo:

“Missing since July 9 Lance Corpl Miller (33216). Any information will be gladly received by his wife, Mrs. Miller, 70, Kinglake Street.”

His death was later presumed, for official purposes, as having occurred on 10th July 1916.

Mary was notified of Harry’s death seven months later, on 12th February 1917; she received a widow’s pension of 10/- a week from March 1917 (at 70 Kinglake Street, Edge Hill). She also received Harry’s Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £3.

Harry's body was not recovered and his name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

Medal roll and card, and Soldiers’ Effects show name as Harry, however, CWGC show him as Henry.
Sadly, Harry has not been found on any local memorial.

His youngest brother Joseph enlisted in the 10th K.L.R. in 1915, was transferred to the R.F.A. and served in Salonika from 1916. He returned to the U.K. in April 1919 and appealed for a compassionate discharge on the grounds that his father, 62, living at 3# Napier Street, was an invalid, suffering serious heart disease, unable to work, and depressed since his son was killed in 1916. As Joseph was his sole support, his appeal was finally granted in May 1920.

Joseph rejoined in June 1922, giving as his next of kin his aunt, Mrs. E. Banks , of 65 Netherfield Rd., presumably after his father had died.

Widow Mary Miller, dob 12th June 1888, appears on the 1939 register living on her own at 33 Queensland St, Edge Hill, Liverpool. She died in the September quarter of 1939 aged 50.

We currently have no further information on Henry Miller. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.

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(108 Years this day)
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Tuesday 30th April 1918.
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Tuesday 30th April 1918.
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(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
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27 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Pte 49572 John Henry Leadbeater (MM)
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(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
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(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
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(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
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A total of 14 Pals were killed on this day. View All