Milne, George
Sergeant
No. 79585, Armoured Car Brigade, Machine Gun Corps (Motors)
Died of disease on Friday 5 July 1918 (aged 33)
Buried:
Tehran War Cemetery, Iran (Grave II. F. 14)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor
Wesley Centenary Methodist Church Bangor
Morayshire Roll of Honour (date of death incorrectly stated as 6 June 1918)
BIOGRAPHY
When George Milne got married on 25 August 1911, he declared that he was a son of Robert John Milne, a contractor.
George Milne was born on 11 January 1885 at 166 High Street, Elgin, Moray, Scotland and he was a son of the then unmarried Georgina Walker who was working as a dairymaid. Georgina Walker had at least four sons:
James MacDonald (born at Elgin around 1882)
George Milne (born 11 January 1885 at Elgin, Moray, Scotland)
William Simpson (born 10 June 1893 at Forres, Moray, Scotland)
Alexander Ritchie (born 30 November 1898 at Rafford, Moray, Scotland)
In the 1891 census Georgina Walker, single, (aged 33) was living in Damburgie, Rafford, Moray, Scotland with two sons, James MacDonald (aged 8) and George Milne (aged 6).
In the 1901 census Georgina Walker, single, (aged 43) was living in Archiestown, Kinloss, Moray, Scotland with three sons, George Milne (aged 16), William Simpson (aged 8), and Alex Ritchie (aged 3).
Georgina Walker and John Third were married on 31 July 1903 in the Victoria Hotel, Forres, according to the forms of the Church of Scotland. John Third, a widowed gardener, (aged 58) was a son of John and Elizabeth (Isabella) Third. Georgina Walker, a single domestic servant, (aged 45) was a daughter of George and Elizabeth Walker.
George Milne worked as footman for Mrs Stewart, Logie, Edinkillie, Scotland.
In April 1911 George Milne (aged 27) was living in Ballyclare, Co Antrim and working as a chauffeur. Later he worked for D H Dunseath, Bangor.
George Milne was living at 9 Collier Street, Belfast when he and Netillia (Annette) Crawford were married on 25 August 1911 in Ballyclare Methodist Church. Netillia Crawford, a mill worker from Mountainview Terrace, Ballyclare, was a daughter of John Crawford, a mill worker.
George and Annette Milne lived at 25 Beatrice Road, Bangor, and George joined at Belfast in 1915. He served with the Armoured Car Brigade, Machine Gun Corps (Motors) in Russia and Mespotamia.
Sergeant George Milne (No. 79585) was 34 when he died from cholera in Mesopotamia on 5 July 1918 and in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Debt of Honour Website it is recorded that he was the husband of Annette Walters (formerly Milne) of 23 Ballycon Road, Ballyclare, Co Antrim.
Annette Milne (nee Crawford) and Cecil Walters were married on 26 November 1924 in Ballyclare Methodist Church. Cecil Walters was a widower and worked as a paper-maker.
Sergeant George Milne (No. 79585) was buried in Tehran War Cemetery, Iran and there is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
PEACE PERFECT PEACE
Sergeant George Milne (No. 79585) is commemorated on Bangor and District War Memorial; on the Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque; in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum and in both Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor and Wesley Centenary Methodist Church Bangor, and on the Morayshire Roll of Honour.
George Milne’s death was reported in the 31 July 1918 edition of the Forres Elgin and Nairn Gazette where he was described as a ‘son of Mr and Mrs Third 146 High Street, Forres’.
George Milne’s half-brother, James MacDonald, worked as a farm servant, enlisted on 26 February 1900 at Forres and served with the Seaforth Highlanders (No. 8217). He served in Egypt and the East Indies.
James MacDonald and Annie Milne were married on 3 December 1909 in Forres, and they had two children:
James (born 17 August 1911)
Margaret Paterson (born 10 July 1913)
James MaccDonald declared his age to be 31 years and 33 days when he enlisted on 7 October 1914 at Forres. He served with the Seaforth Highlanders (No. 7999) until he was discharged on 24 December 1914, deemed ‘not likely to become an efficient soldier’. The reason given was ‘chronic indigestion due to defective teeth’.
George Milne’s half-brother, Alexander Ritchie, a grocer’s assistant, enlisted at Forres on 25 January 1916. His mother was named as Mrs Georgina Third, 156a High Street, Forres, Morayshire. He served with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers (No. 25406) and was killed in action in France on 23 April 1917.
Alexander Ritchie’s death was reported in the 23 May 1917 edition of the Forres Elgin and Nairn Gazette: Mrs Third of 156 High Street, Forres has been informed that her son, Private Alex Ritchie, Royal Scots Fusiliers, had been killed in action. In the 6 June 1917 edition Mr and Mrs Third returned sincere thanks for kind sympathy extended to them in their recent bereavement.
George Milne’s half-brother, William Simpson, a footman, joined at Salisbury Plain in August 1914, and served as a Private (No. 26244) with the Seaforth Highlanders in France.