No.201889, Private, Henry Charles MILLER
Aged 33
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Henry Charles Miller was born in Bury St.Edmunds (3rd qtr 1884 Bury St.Edmunds 4a:553) son of Henry and Elizabeth Ellen MILLER (née BAXTER).
1891 census...Aged 6, he was at Cannon Street, Bury St.Edmunds with his father Henry MILLER [32] carpenter; his mother Elizabeth [31] and brother Robert. All were born in Bury St.Edmunds. 1901 census...Aged 15, a page, he was at 126 Northgate Street, Bury St.Edmunds, a servant of the GOODALL family. His parents were at Stow Lane, Ixworth with his brothers Robert and Joseph [3] born Ixworth 1911 census...Aged 26, a bricklayer's labourer, he was at Stowmarket Road, Ixworth with his parents and brother Joseph Wilfred. On the pension card his mother was still at Stowmarket Road, Ixworth |
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He enlisted in Bury St.Edmunds.
Confusion here as CWGC have him as 201889 1st Cambridgeshires and the medal index card as 201889 Suffolks. The war diary summary following is the 1st Cambridgeshires, attacking TOWER HAMLETS 26 Sept 2 am..Assembly completed on line 28.J.26.b.45.80 to 28.J.20.d.73.23.without casualties. On a 3 company front, right to left, C Coy, D Coy, A Coy with B Coy in reserve. Due to the state of the ground Coys were ordered to advance in section column in single file 5:50 am ..Barrage opened and assault began. C and D Coys had great difficulty crossing the quagmire, many men becoming stuck in it. A Coy made good ground, keeping up with the barrage, but C and D were some distance behind. Some opposition met after 150 yards from dug outs, but these were soon killed and the advance reached the western face of JOIST REDOUBT. Heavy fighting here before the garrison was killed. By the time the centre and right Coys had cleared the W face of JOIST, the left Coy was attacking the eastern face. Here the most severe fighting took place. In one shell hole Lt Graham killed 3 Germans before being severely wounded. The remaining six Germans were killed by an NCO. This shell hole was covered by a tarpaulin which prevented the Germans making full use of their weapons. The left Coy now engaged in struggle to capture NE corner of JOIST and SW end of TOWER TRENCH which were strongly held by machine guns and riflemen. The W face of TOWER TRENCH was wired. The whole of 116th Brigade had lost direction, too far to the left, leaving a 400 yard gap between the Cambridgeshire left and the 13th SUSSEX right, whch left the Cambs A Coy flank in the air. 6:30 am.. The left of A Coy being unprotected and the left of BLACK WATCH thrown back, B Coy (Reserve) was ordered to reinforce. Very little progress was made beyond the west face of JOIST |REDOUBT owing to enfilade MG fire from the south and TOWER TRENCH, although A and C Coy did reach the eastern face. 6:50 am ..Enemy plane shot down by Lewis Gun in front of left flank 7 am..B, C and D Coys holding W face of JOIST with some of A Coy (with no officers) holding a line of shell holes on the W side of the southern end of TOWER TRENCH. The situation remained unchanged throughout the day. Reports made from all Coys except A. Efforts to find A Coy exact position failed. 11am Cambs had kept straight to their objective. The nearest troops on the left were some SUSSEX, in shell holes about J.21.c.4.3 TOWER TRENCH held by the Germans. 2:30 pm..Enemy made local counter-attack from TOWER TRENCH but got no further than 30 yards. Rest of day and overnight spent consolidating position, despite heavy shell fire, MG and rifle fire. CWGC records 63 killed on 26th, only 7 have a known grave
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