Name
Walter Miles
1884
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
28/09/1916
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
4/7289
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CONNAUGHT CEMETERY, THIEPVAL
I. D. 15.
France
Headstone Inscription
GONE TO BE WITH JESUS NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN
UK & Other Memorials
Aspenden Village Memorial, Buntingford Town Memorial, St Peter's Church Memorial, Buntingford, Not on the Wyddial memorials
Pre War
Walter Miles, was born in 1884 in Wyddial, nr Buntingford, Herts, the son of Thomas and Eliza Miles and was baptised in St Bartholomew's Church, Layston, nr Buntingford, Herts on 17 August 1884.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Bridge Foot, Layston, where his father was working as a farm labourer. They remained there in 1901 at which time his father was a a horse keeper on a farm and Walter was an agricultural labourer.
He married Emma Ann Clark in 1906 and on the 1911 Census the couple were listed with their daughters Annie (1) and day-old Violet, as boarders with the Conyard family in High Street, Buntingford. At that time Walter was working as a farm labourer. Their daughter Dorothy born in 1908 was not listed with them but was living with her grandparents, Thomas and Eliza Miles at Meeting Alley, Baldock Lane, Buntingford. Walter and Emma later had a son Walter in 1912.
Wartime Service
He enlisted at Hertford and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment, initially serving with the 1st Battalion in France from 11 November 1914, later transferring to the 7th Battalion.
He was killed in action in France on 28 September 1916, aged 32, and is buried in Connaught Cemetery, Thiepval, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £9 and pay owing of £6 6s 2d. She also received a pension of £1 8s 9d a week for herself and her four children. She gave her address on pension records as The Bank, Baldock Lane, Buntingford and later lived at Meeting Alley, Baldock Lane, Buntingford.
His brother Arthur also served with the Bedfordshire Regiment and died of wounds on 22 July 1918. His name is also commemorated on the Buntingford Memorial.
Acknowledgments
Kate Thompson, Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, Carol Emery
