Sgt 16920 John Milne

• Age: 26
• From: Birkenhead, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

16920 Sergeant John MILNE, 18^th Battalion KLR.

John was born in 1889 in Birkenhead the second of three children born to Thomas Aitken Milne, and his wife Grace Duncan (nee Dallas) who were married in North Bute, Scotland in 1881.  

The 1891 Census shows the family living at Gardeners House, Shrewsbury Road North, Claughton with Grange, Birkenhead, Cheshire.   His father, Thomas, is aged 43, born in Melrose, Scotland in 1848 is a gardener, his mother, Grace, is aged 39, born 1852 in Argyllshire, Scotland and has no occupation listed. They have two children at the time of the Census, Walter aged 6, born 1885 in Huyton, Liverpool and John aged 2, born 1889 in Claughton, Birkenhead.                                                                                                   

There is no obvious trace of the family in the 1901 Census.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at The Chalet, Melbourne Street, New Brighton, Liscard, Cheshire. His father, Thomas, is aged 62, and is a jobbing gardener and his mother, Grace, is aged 59 and has no occupation listed. They have been married for thirty years and have had five children of which two had died. John now aged 22 is a licensed warehouseman and Annie is aged 18, born 1893 in Birkenhead is a bookkeeper.                       

John enlisted on 1^st September 1914 in Liverpool, giving his age as 24 years 170 days, his occupation as a clerk in Cotton Warehousing, and his next of kin as his father of Ivy Cottage, Meadow Street, New Brighton. He was five feet six inches tall, weighed 122lbs, 35” chest, dark complexion, brown eyes, brown hair and gave his religion as Presbyterian. On the 14^th December 1914 he was promoted to Corporal and on the 01^st January 1915 to Sergeant.

From the 23rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain.

 John embarked for France with his Battalion on board the SS Invicta on the 07^th November 1915, disembarking at Boulogne. 

He was killed in action on 01^st July 1916 aged 26 reportedly with three dead Germans around him.

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun. 

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter wrote in the conclusion of his account of the day’s action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257. 

His remains were subsequently lost and he is now commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

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.”

Some of his military records are recorded as “J.F.”  He was reported as killed  in the Liverpool Daily Post on the 07th August 1916: 

Killed. 

Milne, 16920, Sergt. J.F. (New Brighton); 

His identity disc was returned to his father.   

Soldiers Effects for John F. Milne to father John A., Pension to mother Grace, 13 Meadow St. 

John is also commemorated on war memorial in the United Reform Church, Rake Lane, Wallasey and on the Wallasey War Memorial, located in the hospital on Mill Lane, Wallasey.  

His father Thomas died, aged 77, in Birkenhead, June 1926 and his mother Grace also died in Birkenhead, aged 75, on the 26th March, 1928. 

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