Clifford Miller
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Clifford Miller was born in 1888 at Bottesford, Leicestershire, he was the son of John a horseman on a farm and Mary Miller née Worthington of Bottesford Nottingham.
His father John was born in 1852 at Bottesford, his mother Mary Worthington was born in 1856 at Boughton, Nottinghamshire, they were married on 7th June 1877 at Bottesford, they had 3 children, William born 1878, Frank Worthington born 1882 and Clifford born 1888 all were born at Bottesford,
In the 1901 cenes the family are living at 17 High Street, Bottesford, John 47 yrs a horseman on a farm is living withhis wife Mary 40 yrs and their son Clifford 13 yrs.
In the 1911 census we find that Clifford has moved out of the family home, he is living at 111 Norman Street, Ilkeston, he shown as being 23 yrs a coal miner hewer, he is living with his uncle and aunt his uncle George Burchell 57 yrs is an engine fitter
Private Clifford Miller enlisted at Ilkeston he served with the 11th battalion Sherwood Foresters Regiment, he landed in France on 27th August 1915 ,he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial
(Pier and Face 10 C 10 D and 11 ).
He was killed on the first day of the Somme. Battalions attacking Ovillers on 1st July 1916 had to cross 'Mash Valley' one of the widest expanses of No Man's Land (750 yards) along the entire Somme front. Today, looking from Ovillers Cemetery (German front line) towards distant houses (British front line) across open fields offering little cover, the magnitude of their task is still evident. 11th Battalion Sherwood Foresters' War Diary recorded:
'Casualties along the whole line were very heavy and a general attempt was made to crawl forward under intense machine gun and shrapnel fire, any available cover being made use of.... Lt Colonel Watson, walking diagonally across the front collecting men as he went gave fresh impetus to the advance by his personal example... A third attempt, led by Captain C E Hudson*, to reach the German trenches by the sunken road on the right flank was made but... was brought to a standstill by heavy frontal and flank fire as they came over the brow of the hill in the last 80 yards. The casualties sustained by the battalion during the day amounted to 21 officers and 508 men. The strength of the battalion on entering the trenches on 26th June was 27 officers and 710 men.' 11th Bn Sherwood Foresters War Diary TNA WO95/21871(3).
125 men from 11th Battalion Sherwood Foresters were killed during the attack on Ovillers (CWGC Debt of Honour Register). *John Cotterill adds 'The man who brought the 11th Foresters out of action on 1 July and, one of the 6 unwounded officers, was Capt Edward Hudson who would go on to get a VC as CO of 11th Foresters on Asiago Plateau in Italy in 1918'.
2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment suffered 264 fatalities during the same advance. Concerns of their CO Lieutenant Colonel Edward Thomas Falkiner Sandys DSO, a brave and well respected officer, that his battalion would be badly mauled crossing such an expanse of open ground with uncut wire an added hazard, did not impress his superiors. Sandys was wounded during the attack and evacuated to the UK. Depressed at the fate of so many men who had trusted him, Sandys shot himself in a London hotel room and died a few days later.
8th Division's Official History records a total of 5,121 casualties on 1st July 1916.
Military Research by David Nunn
Clifford Miller is also commemorated on the Mapperly Colliery war memorial, at West Hallam, Derbyshire
additional research and information Peter Gillings
Photo David Nunn
Photo taken from German machine gun positions (now Ovillers British Military Cemetery) showing the terrain over which 8th Division including 11th Sherwood Foresters (70th Brigade), advanced on 1st July 1916. Houses beyond the distant tree line now stand on the 1st July 1916 British line.
Photo of Clifford Miller
Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France (www.cwgc.org)
Photo of Clifford Miller
Mapperley Collier Memorial West Hallam courtesy of Peter Gillings