Stewart MILSON MID

MILSON, Stewart

Service Number: Officer
Enlisted: 27 August 1914, Sydney, New South Wales
Last Rank: Captain
Last Unit: 4th Infantry Battalion
Born: Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia , 22 June 1887
Home Town: Milsons Point, North Sydney, New South Wales
Schooling: Kings College, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation: Station Manager
Died: Killed In Action, Gallipoli, 6 August 1915, aged 28 years
Cemetery: Lone Pine Cemetery, ANZAC
Plot I, Row E, Grave 4
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
Show Relationships

World War 1 Service

27 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Sydney, New South Wales
20 Oct 1914: Involvement AIF WW1, Captain, 4th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1,

--- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: ''

20 Oct 1914: Embarked AIF WW1, Captain, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney
25 Apr 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Captain, 4th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli
6 Aug 1915: Involvement AIF WW1, Captain, Officer, 4th Infantry Battalion, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli
6 Aug 1915: Honoured Mention in Dispatches, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli

Help us honour Stewart Milson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Julianne Ryan

At Lone Pine on 6 August Captain Milson went in with his Brigade of over 3000 strong, a brigade that returned with something over 400 – so heavy were the casualties on that day.

The Kings College School Magazine published the following extract from a letter written by a member of Milson’s Company so that his School contemporaries would know how he fell bravely in the Lone Pine offensive.

He wrote:
"Over the parapet went the 2nd Battalion, and we were close behind. I will never forget that picture. I was well up with the rest, racing like mad – all nervousness gone now. We reached the Turkish lines, and found the first trench covered in with logs and branches and dirt heaped on top. There was a partial check. Some men fired in through the loopholes, others tried to pull the logs apart. Out runs our officer, old Dickie Seldon, waving a revolver. “This is no good, men! On! On!”  And running over the top of the trench he came to the second trench, and down into it. The crowd followed; I got alongside Captain Milson. We slid down into the trench. The Turks ran round a corner and got into a large cave dug in the trench side as a bomb-proof shelter. The first man to follow them was shot dead. Here Captain Milson took command. A bomber came on to the parapet and started throwing bombs into the cave, but was shot in the arm, and threw his bag down to us; several rolled out, and out rushed a Turk to try to get them; he was shot at, but missed, and he got back pretty quick. Milson started throwing, and I was next to him lighting bombs. He then proposed getting a party to the other side of this possie and bombing from both sides, and asked if we would follow him. We all said ‘Yes’; so he threw a bomb and rushed across. A dozen Turks shot at him, and he fell dead the other side".

Captain Milson is commemorated on a Biblical passage that appears beneath the commemorative stained glass windows in Kings College School Chapel.

Dedicated to Captain Stewart Milson: A man has no greater love than this, than that he lays down his life for his friends.

Submitted by Julianne T Ryan, courtesy of Kings College Gazette.  08/03/2017.  Lest we forget.

Read more...

Biography

"CAPTAIN STEWART MILSON.

News has just been received of the death - killed in action at the Dardanelles - of Captain Stewart Milson, oldest son of Mr. Arthur J. Milson, of Walaya, Milson's Point. Captain Stewart Milson was 28 years of age, and unmarried. He was an officer of the 4th Battalion, 1st Infantry Brigade, and was among the first to enlist in this State. He was killed in the heavy fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula between the 6th and 8th instant. He was previously wounded at Gaba Tepe, a shrapnel bullet having entered his back after striking a book which he had in a pocket of his tunic. To do this it had to pass half way round his body. The bullet was subsequently removed, and after being away from the front for about two months he was sufficiently recovered to take his place with his troops of the 4th Battalion in the firing line.

The late Captain Milson was educated at King's School, Parramatta, and he received his early military training in the King's School cadet force. Going into business, he spent three years with the firm of Dalgety and Co., and he joined the Scottish Rifles, soon attaining the rank of captain. His corps was very proud of him, and he of it. He left Dalgety's in order to take up pastoral pursuits, and his last position was that of manager of Illiliwa station, near Hay. In addition to being an ardent rifleman, the late Captain Milson was also very fond of aquatic sport, particularly yachting, and he often used to accompany his father and his uncle, Mr. A. G. Milson, on their yachting trips." - from the Sydney Morning Herald 20 Aug 1915 (nla.gov.au)

 

"...With the 4th Battalion of the AIF, Stewart Milson embarked on the ship Euripides on 20 October 1914. He landed at Gallipoli on the first day of the campaign, 25 April and was seriously wounded on 27 April. Some months later Milson returned to Gallipoli as a Captain and Company Commander and was mentioned in Despatches. He was killed in action on 6 August 1915 and is buried at Gallipoli in the Lone Pine Cemetery. At Lone Pine on 6 August Captain Milson went in with his Brigade of over 3000 strong, a brigade that returned with something over 400 – so heavy were the casualties on that day.

The (King's) School Magazine published the following extract from a letter written by a member of Milson’s Company so that his School contemporaries would know how he fell bravely in the Lone Pine offensive. He wrote:

'Over the parapet went the 2nd Battalion, and we were close behind. I will never forget that picture. I was well up with the rest, racing like mad – all nervousness gone now. We reached the Turkish lines, and found the first trench covered in with logs and branches and dirt heaped on top. There was a partial check. Some men fired in through the loopholes, others tried to pull the logs apart. Out runs our officer, old Dickie Seldon, waving a revolver. “This is no good, men! On! On!” And running over the top of the trench he came to the second trench, and down into it. The crowd followed; I got alongside Captain Milson. We slid down into the trench. The Turks ran round a corner and got into a large cave dug in the trench side as a bomb-proof shelter. The first man to follow them was shot dead. Here Captain Milson took command. A bomber came on to the parapet and started throwing bombs into the cave, but was shot in the arm, and threw his bag down to us; several rolled out, and out rushed a Turk to try to get them; he was shot at, but missed, and he got back pretty quick. Milson started throwing, and I was next to him lighting bombs. He then proposed getting a party to the other side of this possie and bombing from both sides, and asked if we would follow him. We all said ‘Yes’; so he threw a bomb and rushed across. A dozen Turks shot at him, and he fell dead the other side’." - from the King's (School) Gazette Jul 2012 (www.kings.edu.au)

Read more...