Lance Corporal Walter Milburn

Lance Corporal Walter Charles Milburn, 1st/4th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He was killed in France on 29th October 1916, aged 21, during the Battle of the Somme and is buried in Hebuterne Military Cemetery, Pas De Calais, France. His headstone is inscribed ” Peace Perfect Peace “. He had been born in 1894 at Holborn near Lowick and was the son of Charles and Jemima Milburn later of Brownridge, Lowick. Before enlisting he had been employed with his brother Robert as rabbit catchers. He had originally enlisted in the Tyneside Scottish. After training he was sent to France where he was transferred into the K.O.Y.L.I.  Here he was originally picked as a sniper before taking over duties as a Battalion bomber. From the 25th October the Battalion were in frontline trenches near Hebuterne. It appears Lance Corporal Milburn was killed whilst carrying out working part duties. The Battalion diary states that on the 29th  there were casualties of 2 Other Ranks killed and 16 wounded. The autumn rains turned the ground into a glutinous quagmire which made movement of men and guns very difficult which can be seen from the photographs. The colour photo shows a peaceful Somme landscape today “with no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”. The photographs of Lance Corporal Milburn are courtesy of his Great Nephew Steve Milburn. The second photo shows him in his Tyneside Scottish uniform.

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