William Francis Spurstow Miller was born in 1893 in Southsea, Hampshire, one of the four children of Admiral Francis Spurstow Miller CB (1863-1954) and Amy Knowles Miller née Ross (1870-1949). His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1893 in the Portsea Island registration district, Hampshire.
In the 1901 census he is shown as aged 7 years, living at Clearmount Lodge, Buxtons Road, Wyke Regis, Weymouth, Dorset, with his mother and a younger brother, Cecil Spurstow Miller (1895-1972), together with a cook and two female nurses/housemaids.
In the 1911 census he is shown as aged 17 years, a school boy at the United Services College, 65-69 Alma Road, Windsor, Berkshire, whilst his parents were recorded as living in a 12 roomed property at 19 Granville Park, Lewisham, London, together with a cook and a house-parlour maid. The census return confirmed that his mother had given birth to four children, but at this time only two were still living.
Before enlisting on 14 February 1915 as a Private in the 1st Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment, service number 10/1057, his address was given as care of J. H. Dalrimple, Pukeokahu, New Zealand. In February/March 1915 he was part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and was initially sent to Egypt. He was serving in France as a Lance Corporal in his battalion when he was killed in action, aged 23 years, on 28 September 1916.
His body was believed to have been buried somewhere in the Australian Imperial Forces Burial Ground, Grass Lane, Flers, Somme, France and in 1920 the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), erected a headstone, (No.7),in their Special Memorial Section of the cemetery.
He is shown as 'SPURSTOW MILLER.W.F. L-CORPL. 1ST.B. N.Z.E.F.I.R.' on the Quebec Chapel war memorial at the Church of The Annunciation, Bryanston Street, London, W1H 7AH. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and on the New Zealand War Graves Project website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
