11th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment
William George Millin was born in the third quarter of 1888 at Ramsden, Oxfordshire (his birth year indicates that he was actually aged 30 years when he died), the son of George William Millin (1863-1919) and Florence Matilda Millin (formerly Bartlett) (1868-1911). George William Millin was a general labourer and later a ‘dealer’.
At the time of the 1911 Census William George Millin was living with his parents at Ramsden Heath, Charlbury, Oxfordshire, employed as a general labourer. In 1912 he moved to live in Mitcheldean, taking up employment as a labourer at the Cement Works.
On Sunday, 11 October 1914 William married Gladys May Wright of High Street, Mitcheldean at the Registry Office at Newnham on Severn. It may be speculated that the marriage took place shortly before he enlisted in the Army. His occupation was given as ‘labourer’ on his marriage certificate and his funeral report states he ‘joined the forces at the commencement of the war’. Such ‘war weddings’ may also have been the reason why the Registry Office was open on a Sunday.
Gladys May Wright was born in 1894, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright (about 1839-1926) and Alice Elizabeth Wright (1862-1915). Before her marriage she worked as a domestic servant in Cricklewood, London. There were no children of the marriage and when the then Imperial War Graves Commission published their register for the County of Gloucestershire in 1930 Gladys May Millin was living at 36 Elgin Terrace, Maida Vale, London.
William’s Army Service Record did not survive the incendiary bombing of the records store in London in 1940. However, his Medal Index Card shows that he first served as a Private (number 13813) in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He entered his first theatre of war, in Egypt, on 26 October 1915. Later in the war, perhaps due to the effects of wounds or illness, he was transferred to the 11th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, a ‘home service’ battalion mainly engaged in guarding the coast.
The sole Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone in St Michael and All Angels Churchyard at Micheldean marks the last resting place of Private William George Millin, who died on 18 November 1918, aged 28 years, of influenza and septic bronchitis, at 333rd Field Ambulance Hospital, Rochester House, Goleston-on-Sea, Norfolk. His remains returned to his home, Cross Cottage, Mitcheldean and his funeral took place on Saturday 23 November.
Researched by Eric Nicholls 30 September 2016