8971 Sergeant Edgar Milton, of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed in action on the 28th December 1914. He was 26 years old and the son of Mr G R and Mrs J Milton of 75, Dudley Road, Eastbourne.
Sergeant Milton, who was born in Brighton, had originally joined the Royal Sussex Regiment at Eastbourne on the 8th January 1908. He was eighteen years and eleven months old and a labourer by trade. He stood five feet, ten and a half inches tall, weighed 135 pounds, had a pale complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. He also had an inch long scar on the top of his head. His religion is noted on his surviving papers as Wesleyan.
Edgar Milton was appointed temporary lance-sergeant on the 28th September 1914, and sergeant (temporary) on the 28th December 1914. He was killed at La Bassee and is commemorated by name on the Le Touret memorial. His military character is noted as "very good" and, from a civil employment point of view, "thoroughly reliable and trustworthy". In July 1914 however, he had applied to extend his period of army service to complete 12 years with the Colours and therefore, as it turned out, would have no need of civil employment. When Britain went to war and the Royal Sussex Regiment sailed for France, Edgar - with his two good conduct chevrons sewed onto his lower left sleeve - sailed with them. He arrived on the French mainland on the 12th August 1914.
Edgar's older brother William James Milton also served in the 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment (he joined in September or October 1902) and like Edgar, he too arrived overseas with the battalion on the 12th August 1914. He though, survived the war and was discharged as no longer physically fit for war service in November 1917.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Sources:
Ancestry.co.uk (MIC)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in The Great War
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2 comments:
Thank you for remembering Edgar Milton. Edgar was my greatuncle. He was one of 12 children, 5 of whom fought in WWI. Three of those died in WWI (John Milton, died 12 Sep 1916; Edward Milton, died 4 Jun 1915 of wounds at home; and Edgar). His brothers, James William Milton and Sydney Milton (my grandfather) also fought in WWI. James William Milton was a POW.
Just before Edgar Milton died, he sent a letter home. The letter was written on Christmas Day
“I could not write before to thanks you because we left last Monday for the firing line, and we lost nine killed and eighteen wounded, and still I have escaped and am safe and sound. We were in the trenches up to our knees in water, and it was freezing all the time. There are over 100 men gone in Hospital with frost-bitten feet. We have been fighting between Armentieres and Lille. Things are going quite well with us. We are gaining ground every day now. We are off again tomorrow to go in the trenches. We are going to try and clear the Germans out of town with the King’s Royal Rifles. Well, Mother and Father, it is Christmas Night, and I hope that all of you at home are enjoying yourselves and sitting beside a nice fire. I cannot say that I am not happy, because I am as happy as a lark! I am sleeping in a barn now. We had a tin of bully beef and Christmas pudding today for dinner, and I enjoyed the “duff”. I received Princess Mary’s gift to-day and am sending it home to be looked after for me – that is if I am spared to come home.
The above information comes from a newspaper article. The article also states that "Sergt: E. Milton, of the 2nd. Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed in action at La Bassee on December 28th. – Such is the regrettable information which his parents, Mr and Mrs G. R. Milton of 3, Dudley – terrace, have received from official sources. It appears that Sergt: Milton, who was 25 years of age, met his untimely death while showing an officer how to fire a machine gun. A bullet from a German sniper struck him in the back of the neck and came out through the eye, killing him instantly."
"Mr. and Mrs. Milton have also received information that their eldest son, Private. W. J. Milton, of the 2nd. Royal Sussex Regiment, was wounded at Vendresse on September 14th, and is now a prisoner of war at Doberitz, Germany. Their youngest son, Private Edward Milton, is now at Dover, having spent some time in Hospital at Newcastle while suffering from dysentery."
Mark Milton
Mark
Thanks so much for taking the time to post this additional information. It all helps to build a picture of the man.
Paul
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