Name
Alexander Richard Milne
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/07/1917
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Hertfordshire Regiment
Adjt.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 54 and 56.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Monken Hadley Village Memorial, Hadley Common Memorial, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Alexander was the only son of Frank Alexander Milne & Alice Emily (nee Burne) of Summehill, Leecroft Road, Barnet.
He was educated at Northaw Place and Winchester where he was a Sergeant in the O.T.C.
Wartime Service
He joined the Inns of Court O.T.C. at the outbreak of war and obtained a commission as 2nd Lieut. in the 3rd Battn. The Hertfordshire Regt on the 28th of October 1914, and was promoted to Lieut on the 6th September following. A year later, in September 1916 he was promoted to Capt.
Alexander went to France with the Expeditionary Force in July 1915 and was attached to a trenching battalion. He rejoined his regiment in January 1916 but was killed in action on the 31st of July 1917 at St. Julien.
Col. (later Brigadier-General) Sir H. Page wrote:
"I hear that our dear comrades died like heroes, after the most wonderful exhibition of dogged pluck and brilliant fighting seen in this war. I am so proud to have known your son. He and his brother officers have earned our undying gratitude."
A fellow officer concurred:
"I don't think a more gallant officer has ever served in the Army, and it is largely due to his ability and the work he has done as Adjutant that the battalion has reached its high state of efficiency. He was killed while taking up reinforcements in the most gallant manner, under heavy fire, to repel a counter-attack, his Commanding Officer having been killed just previously. He was always so cheerful and high-spirited that he was extremely popular with both officers and men, and it is as a friend that all of us, who had the privilege of knowing him, will always remember him."
Additional Information
Alexander is mentioned in a very thorough biography for Jack Alfred Willmott by Paul Johnson, which appears in the website’s Archive section at: http://www.hertsatwar.co.uk/archives/hertfordshire-men-women-individuals-stories/jack-alfred-willmott-biography/
Acknowledgments
Derry Warners
David Harbott, Jonty Wild
