William Ernest Miller
Private 16167, William Ernest Miller, A Company, 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. Killed in action 9th February 1915.
William was one of the many men who enlisted early in the war – in the autumn of 1914. William worked for Edward Packard & Co and lived at 491 Bramford Road which was then in the ecclesiastical parish of Bramford.
He was sent as part of a draft for the 1st Battalion in early January 1915 when they were in billets in Winchester awaiting embarkation for France. William arrived in France with a small advance billeting party under Lt Wood on 16th January before the main body arrived at Le Havre on the 18th. The battalion billeted at Merris near Balliuel, close to the Belgian border, and spent the rest of the month there in training. On the 2nd February they moved up to Ypres and took over the trenches from the 2nd Cheshires on the night of the 4th and 5th. On February 9th they suffered heavy shelling during which William was killed. He was one of six 1st Battalion men who died that day according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records.
His portrait is painted on the Edward Packard & Co Memorial and Roll of Service in Bramford Church (right).
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