32133 Private Edgar Stanley Miller, Kings Own Scottish Borderers

Edgar Stanley Miller was born in Lewes, Sussex about 1888.  He appears on the 1891 census as a two year old living at Old Malling, Sussex.  The household comprised 43 year old Benjamin Miller (a miller’s carter), his 42 year old wife Harriet (a caretaker) and their six children:  Albert J Miller (aged 16), William Richard Miller (aged 11), Edward Alfred Miller (aged nine), Alice Jane Miller (aged seven), Joseph Charles Miller (aged five) and Edgar. 

By the time the 1901 census was taken he was a 12 year old scholar living with his family at Anchor Cottage, Barcombe.  William and Joseph were still living there but Albert had moved to Mayfield and was living there with his family, while Alice was working as a housemaid at Little Buckingham Farm, Old Shoreham.  I can find no trace of Edward or another daughter – Elizabeth – born around 1877. 

Chailey Parish Magazine notes him for the first time In November 1916 as Miller, Pte E S, 3rd Royal Sussex, England and then repeats this information up to December 1917.  In January 1918 however it notes that he is now serving with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and this information is then repeated up to and including the final published roll call in July 1919. 

Edgar's medal index card (above, courtesy of Ancestry) confirms his service with the two regiments giving his Royal Sussex Regiment number as 19565 and his KOSB number as 32133.  He is noted by his full name, Edgar Stanley Miller. The British War and Victory Medal roll confirms that he served with the 12th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment.

It seems likely that, like his brothers Albert Miller, Joseph Miller and William Miller, Edgar was conscripted into the army. His Royal Sussex Regiment number dates to October 1916, which ties in nicely with a mention in the parish magazine the following month.