Walter Milward

Walter Milward enlisted in 1893, serving in the Yorkshire Light Infantry and was stationed in India before serving in the Boer War in 1899, receiving the Queen's South African Medal with four clasps and the King's medal with clasps, South Africa 1901, 1902. He was put on the army reserve list in 1902 and finally time served in 1909. Walter enlisted on 6th August 1914 with 9th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) and was given the rank of Sergeant in 'B' company, taking on the job of drill instructor. By early 1915 just prior to the battalion's move south he was made CSM (acting) and it was made substantive on the day he was wounded near Hetman Char/ Green Hill, Suvla. The battalion took heavy casualties taking Chocolate Hill on 21 August 1915 and Walter was one of these men. He received a shrapnel wound in the right arm from an exploding shell. The wound did not receive proper attention for nearly four days due to the difficulty of getting men back to the medical facilities owing to constant Turkish sniping and shelling. Some casualties lay in No Man's Land for days prior to evacuation. When Walter eventually reached the hospital ship H.M. Soudan, lying offshore, gangrene had set in. He managed to dictate a letter to his family after an operation to amputate his arm, saying he would probably be home before it. He did not recover and was buried at sea off Malta on 29 August 1915, and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli.

Much of this information comes from Jack Bagshaw Milward’s 1982 manuscript biography of his father, 'Walter Milward - Soldier and Coal Miner 1874 - 1915'. This was edited and published (with supporting documents, photographs etc.) by Hilary Hillier, Jack’s niece (and Winifred Mary’s daughter), in 2005.