DRAFT - John Lucas Miller, b. 1878, WWI service with the 7th Battalion Cameron Highlanders.

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John Lucas Miller

b. 1878 Edinburgh Scotland

WWI Service - 7th Regiment Cameron Highlanders

Service Number: S/14018

Killed in the Battle of Loos, 25th September, 1915


John Lucas Miller. Cameron Highlanders Uniform.

b. 1878 Edinburgh, Scotland.


THOSE HE LEFT BEHIND


John Lucas' family about 1892. 

His parents, Alexander Miller (died 1901) and Mary Jane Macdougall with their four sons,

William abt 2 years, Charles abt 10 years, John Lucas abt 14 years, Alexander abt 12 years

plus daughter, Catherine abt 6 years. 



Family photo taken about 1913
John Lucas and wife Margaret/Peigi Miller (neé) Maccrimmon with
Son, Alexander Malcolm abt 2 years and daughter, Catherine abt 4 years. Sadly, Catherine died in 1914.


Sons, Alexander Malcolm, abt 5 years, and John, abt 2 years, with John Lucas' mother, 
Catherine Miller (neé) Macdonald. 
Photo taken about 1914-15


John Lucas Miller and wife Margaret/Peigi Miller neé Maccrimmon abt. 1914 - 1915


WORLD WAR I ARRIVES

The following comes from "The History of the 7th Battalion Queens's own Cameron Highlanders", 
by 
Sandilands, JW; Macleod, Norman, 1869 - 1952, available on Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg: 

"Soon after the outbreak of the Great War, Colonel D. W. Cameron of Lochiel received permission to raise Service Battalions of the Cameron Highlanders under Lord Kitchener's New Army Scheme. He proceeded at once to Scotland, and at meetings in Glasgow and Inverness stirring appeals for recruits for the new Battalions were made. These appeals met with so enthusiastic a response that within a week or two the 5th and 6th Battalions were raised, and recruiting for the 7th Battalion was in full swing. Recruits for the 5th and 6th were sent direct to Aldershot, but when it was found that there was every prospect of raising another Battalion, it was decided to make its Headquarters at Inverness, the Capital of the Territorial District of the Cameron Highlanders ...

the type of man it attracted was of a particularly high order and fine physique, as at this time the height and chest measurement for recruits had been increased. A large proportion were students and young professional men from Glasgow, where a Cameron Recruiting Office had been opened as soon as Lochiel received permission to raise the new Battalions, and it was a rule that no man was admitted unless he was a Scotsman. "




I am not sure of the origin of this photo but I am guessing someone in the family sent it to dad. It apparently shows a group of Highlanders either in training camp or in the back lines of the front. It is possible that somewhere in there is John Lucas Miller.  My guess would be the slightly older man on the far right of the front row. John was thirty-seven when killed in 1915. 


THE BATTLE OF LOOS

This was a disaster for the British. It began on 25th September, 1915. They called off this battle on the 28th September in failure. 

At the end of the first day of the battle 25th September, 1915, "Without calling a proper roll, the men were numbered off end it was found that there were 4 officers and 75 rank and file who had started off so proudly 24 hours earlier. Thoughout the night and early morning, stragglers kept coming in, and there were finally collected 6 officers and about 299 other ranks. ("History of the 7th Brigade Cameron Highlanders").

For more information read the story 


The 7th Camerons on Hill 70—25th September, 1915.

From the Painting by Joseph Gray, the property of Evan M. Barron, Esq., Inverness.

From: The History of the 7th Battalion Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

By: Colonel J. W. Sandilands C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., and Lieut. Colonel Norman Macleod C.M.G., D.S.O. Stirling: Eneas Mackay, Murray Place, 1922

 "All down the slopes towards Lens lay the tartans, Gordon and Black Watch, Seaforth and Cameron,    like the drift left on the shore when the tide has ebbed."

Mr. John Buchan in Nelson's History of the War:

*******



These images are said to show one of the Cameron Highlander Battalions
 on their way to war and then on their return. 



THE LOOS MEMORIAL, PAS DE CALAIS, FRANCE 

The description from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website:

Loos-en-Gohelles is a village about 5 kilometres north-west of Lens.  The Loos Memorial forms the side and back of Dud Corner Cemetery whereover 1,700 officers and men are buried, the great majority of whom fell in the Battle of Loos. Dud Corner Cemetery which stands almost on the site of a German strong point, the Lens Road Redoubt, captured by the 15th(Scottish) on the first day of the battle, is located about 1 km west of the village, on the N43/D943, the main Lens to Bethune road.  

The Loos Memorial commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay, and who have no known grave. It covers the period from the first day of the Battle of Loos to the date of the Armistice.

On either side of the cemetery is a wall 5 feet high, to which are fixed tablets on which are carved the names of those commemorated.  At the back are four small circular courts, open to the sky, in which the lines of tablets are continued and between these courts are three semi-circular walls or apses, two of which carry tables, while on the centre apse is erected the cross of Sacrifice. 

John's name is found on Panel 119 to 124.

At the entrance to the cemetery there should be a visitor's book that all visitors may sign. All Commonwealth War Grave cemeteries have a visitor's book. 



The panel on which John's name appears in a group of other Miller names. 
A small collection of crosses under this panel were put there by visiting grandchildren of John. 


The road (D943) end of the Dud Corner Cemetery with the distinctive coal slag heaps in the background. 
These landmarks, which are part of the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
 help to locate the cemetery. 


The Dud Corner Cemetery as seen from the entrance.  Panels of names run along the walls. John's name is located on the right hand wall when viewed from the entrance. 



MEMORIAL, ST COLUMBA'S CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, BLACKHALL, EDINBURGH






This memorial is at the front of the church on Columba Rd, Edinburgh, EH4 3QU





The Miller headstone in Comely Bank Cemetery. Section C  491
John's daughter Catherine, who died in 1913, and his sister Catherine were also listed on his mother's headstone. 


A remembrance ceremony in honour of the Battle of Loos was held in 2015.

A full text copy of The History of the 7th Battalion Cameron Highlanders  is available via the Gutenberg Project and includes illustrations. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50301/50301-h/50301-h.htm 

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