Miller, Edgar

BORN WILLERBY, HULL, 1898. SON OF EDWARD ALFRED MILLER (1863-1924) & LOUISA ANTIS MAY HUSSEY (1864-1943), AT GANTON, SCARBOROUGH. ONE OF 13 CHILDREN. EMPLOYED AS AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER IN EASTRINGTON, BROUGH. HE ENLISTED IN HULL, ON 17/05/1916, AGED 18. YEARS AND 5 MONTHS. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT, 8.5 INCHES TALL, 126 LBS WEIGHT, 36.5 INCH CHEST. TRAINED AS A LEWIS MACHINE GUNNER, AT WITHERNSEA. DESPITE BEING A SCHOOL TEACHER, HE WAS REPRIMANDED FOR OVERSTAYING HIS PASS, BEING INSUBORDINATE TO A NCO, LEAVING HIS BILLET, WHILE ON DUTY WITHOUT AUTHORITY AND A MISDEMEANOR ON CHURCH PARADE. HE ARRIVED IN FRANCE, ON 02/02/1917. POSTED TO THE 10TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED AT OPPY WOOD, ON 03/05/1917, AGED 19. HE WAS UNMARRIED. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS FATHER, EDWARD. COMMEMORATED ON THE ARRAS MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING.
FOUR OF HIS FIVE BROTHERS SERVED IN THE WAR. ONE OF THEM, WILLIAM MILLER, WAS A DISCHARGED MARINE, AGED 22 AND RESIDING AT THE BEVERLEY LUNATIC ASYLUM. HIS SEVEN SISTERS, LIVED IN SCARBOROUGH.

The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull.  All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.
The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences. During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon. The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
First name:
EDGAR
Regiment:
10th East Yorkshire Regiment (Hull Commercials)
Military Number:
3/26583
Rank:
Private
Date Died
03/05/1917
Place died:
Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France
Age:
19
GANTON, SCARBOROUGH, , NORTH YORKSHIRE, UK