Commemorated: | |||
| 1. Grave: | Noeux-Les-Mines Communal Cemetery | I. L. 14 | |
| 2. Book: | The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918 | Pg.130 | |
| 3. Memorial: | The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour | 19B GQS | |
Awards & Titles: | |||
Family :
Son of the Rev. P. E. and Elinor Miles (nee Jex Blake), of Odstock, Salisbury; husband of Letitia M. Miles, of Garden House, Backwell, West Town, Somerset.Educated at Shrewsbury School: School House, Football XI and Captain of Cricket, he left in 1886 for Pembroke College, Cambridge. For a short time after taking his degree he was assistant Master at Dulwich before going in to business first in the Argentine and then in Saskatchewan, Canada. Though 46 when the War broke out, he joined the Bristol O.T.C. and applied for a commission. Refused on account of his age, he enlisted in the Sportsman’s Bn. in December 1914, and was eventually gazetted 2nd Lieut. in the Connaughts on 18th August 1915.
Service Life:
Campaigns:
- The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.
| Unit / Ship / Est.: 6/Connaught Rangers |
| Action : France & Flanders |
France & Flanders covers all the dates and corresponding locations which are outside the official battle nomenclature dates on the Western Front. Therefore the actions in which these men died could be considered 'normal' trench duty - the daily attrition losses which were an everyday fact of duty on the Western Front.
Detail :
Second Lieutenant Henry Robert Miles, 6th Bn. Connaught Rangers.Killed in action in France 16th July 1916 aged 48.
War Diary for the 6th Connaughts shows for the 18th July 1916 - "2/Lt H.R. MILES was killed by a shell this morning, he had quite recently been recommended for promotion to Captain, he is a great loss for the battlion - [...]"
His Colonel wrote "I know no one who was so universally popular – always the same, always cheerful and devoted to duty. Had he lived he would very shortly have been gazetted captain. He was a most excellent officer, and losing him is a great loss to the Regiment and to the country. It is small comfort, but it is true, that he had done more than one man’s share in bringing us to victory."
The Salopian: "He was a pattern of the old fashioned virtues of simplicity and modesty to which his subsequent career has proved that he added fearlessness to an extent, which one had no opportunity of realising in his early days. To know him was to love him and to form simply on that knowledge the highest possible opinion of a School that could inspire such an enthusiastic devotion in such a man."
Buried at Noeux-Les-Mines Communal Cemetery, France. Grave I. L. 14.
See also: Canadian Great War Project.
Masonic :
| Type | Lodge Name and No. | Province/District : |
|---|---|---|
| Mother : | Lodge Elias de Derham No. 586 E.C. | Wiltshire |
| Joined : | Lodge of Agriculture No. 1199 E.C. | Somerset |
Initiated | Passed | Raised |
14th January 1903 | 12th February 1903 | 12th March 1903 |
Past Master of Britannia Lodge No. 23, Canada.
He joined Lodge of Agriculture and Industry No. 1199, at Yatton on 20th April 1914. He has no occupation and is resident at West Town. His war service is recorded and the annotation is that he was "Killed in Action May 1916."
See also Somerset Province Entry.
Source :
The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:
- The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
- The (UK) National Archives
- Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
- ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry
Additional Source:
- Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
- Researcher : Bruce Littley