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War Memorial
Australia

He enlisted in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

He was 41 and the son of Mr. J.C. Miller M.A. of “Seasalter Lodge,” Whitstable, Kent. Husband of Mrs. Jane Elizabeth Miller (née Burrell) of Hillmeade, Shepherdswell, Dover, Kent.

The following was accessed from the ‘Whitstable Times,’ Issue 2,765, dated Saturday 6 January 1917:- Miller. At Queen Square W.C. on 29th last, Alex S. Miller, Australian Force, only son of J.C. Miller M.A. of Seasalter Lodge. "He bravely did his duty."

Deaths Mar 1917   Miller Alexander S 41 Holborn 1b 792

 Having previously served for two years in the 2nd (Volunteer) Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, Alexander first enlisted in the Australian army at Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 21 October 1914, at which time he probably thought that he would be rejected for military service on account of the combination of not being in the best of health and due to his age. In an attempt to counter the latter concern he ‘lost’ seven years, and stated that he was only 32 years and 3 months old, that he was a Photographer, and named his father Mr. James C. Miller, M.A. of 6, Watts Avenue, Rochester, Kent as his next of kin, as opposed to naming his wife Mrs. Jane Elizabeth Miller who he had married in Lambeth, London in 1896.

Marriages Mar 1896  

Burrell Jane Elizabeth          Lambeth 1d 577
  
Miller Alexander Sutherland Lambeth 1d 577
 
Following his 1914 enlistment, Alexander was attested to serve in the 7th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, which was among the first infantry units raised for the A.I.F. during the Great War. Like the 5th, 6th and 8th Battalions, it was recruited from the State of Victoria and, together with these battalions, formed the 2nd Australian Brigade. The battalion was raised by Lieutenant-Colonel H. E. “Pompey” Elliott within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914, and embarked for war just two months later. Having served for only 127 days whilst carrying out his basic training at Broadmeadows Camp, Victoria, Australia, Alexander was discharged from the Australian Imperial Force at Broadmeadows Camp, on 31 January 1915, due to “Being Medically Unfit.” During his training, Alexander had suffered an injury to his left knee when he fell approximately sixteen feet down a quarry in December 1914; the injury later resulted from him suffering with Synovitis in his damaged knee. On Tuesday 4 May 1915, having already served in the British and Australian armies, he enlisted for a second time in the Australian army at Melbourne, Victoria, and  on that occasion he stated that he was 39 years and 10 months old, that he was a Photographer, and again named his father Mr. James C. Miller M.A. who had moved from Rochester and resided at “Seasalter Lodge,” Whitstable, Kent as his next of kin. On the completion of his basic training, Alexander sailed from Melbourne on 16 July 1915, in a reinforcement draft of the 22nd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force bound for Egypt aboard the 11,223 ton Australian troopship H.M.A.T. Demosthenes (64), which had been requisitioned from G. Thompson & Co Ltd of London. The 22nd Battalion Australian Imperial Force was formed on 26 March 1915 at Broadmeadows Camp in Victoria, Australia. The battalion became part of the 6th Brigade of the 2nd Division. Most of the battalion embarked for Egypt on 8 May 1915. The battalion deployed to Gallipoli in the first week of September 1915 allowing elements of the 2nd Brigade to be rested from their positions in the front line at ANZAC. The battalion served on the peninsula until the final evacuation in December 1915, and were then withdrawn to Egypt, and brought back to strength with reinforcements. While most of the battalion was serving on Gallipoli the transport drivers, along with the other drivers from the 6th Brigade, were sent to the Salonika front to support the Serbs, and they did not re-join the battalion until after the evacuation of ANZAC. Alexander was at Gallipoli for only a short time, as after being taken to the 13 Casualty Clearing Station on 18 September 1915 suffering from Tonsillitis, but with the need to keep the 13 C.C.S. free for treating the continual stream of wound cases, Alexander was evacuated later the same day to Mudros via a Hospital Ship. Another Hospital Ship evacuated Alexander back to Malta on 23 September 1915. After receiving treatment at the Floriana Military Hospital on the island of Malta, Alexander was taken to England as opposed to sending him back to his battalion. Stricken with Dysentery, on 18 October 1915 Alexander was admitted as a patient to the 1,800 bed 2nd/1st Southern General Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps, in the Dudley Road Infirmary, Birmingham, Warwickshire. He remained in the hospital until 23 November 1915, when he was moved to Woodsole Park, Epsom, Surrey, for convalescence until 20 December 1915. Jane Miller resided at Shepherdswell for many years after her husband had died, and was very well known by the local populace in the village, doubtless due to working at the local Post Office.

He is remembered on the War Memorial at Shepherdswell near Dover, Kent, also known as Sibertswold. The name of the village is probably derived from the name Sibert, who was one of its earliest Saxon proprietors. Both names for the parish are still in current daily use. The civic war memorial was erected by the British Legion, and was unveiled by the Commandant of the Dover Garrison, Colonel (later Major-General) Neville John Gordon Cameron, C.B., C.M.G., A.D.C., (1873-1955), of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. It was dedicated by the Vicar of Shepherdswell/Sibertswold, the Reverend Cuthred Compton M.A., B.A., C.F., who was the Vicar of the parish from 1920 to 1925. A bronze plaque which is located in the parish church of St. Andrew’s, which also commemorates the fallen of the Great War, was dedicated in July 1920.