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Pte. Joseph John Milton
British Army 6th Btn. Somerset Light Infantry
from:Bridgwater, Somerset
(d.16th Sept 1916)
Joseph John Pope Milton born on 23 October 1876. He was my great grandfather. The streets the family lived in in Bridgwater were not the most salubrious and the living was poor, so this may have been why in 1894 Joseph enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry. Joseph never left England, although other battalions of the SLI fought in South Africa. In October 1901 he was discharged from the army at Devonport as medically unfit to serve, perhaps that’s why he never went abroad. In March 1902 he married Jane Watling, a widow with one son and between then and 1915 when he went to war they had 9 children, the oldest son was my grandfather. During the latter part of this period at least Joseph worked for Sully & Co in Bridgwater.
Joseph rejoined the SLI (6th Battalion) and went to France in March 1915 at the age of 39 and went directly to Ypres then Loos and then Delville Wood and, finally, for Joseph, Flers Courcelette. On 16th of September 1916 the day after tanks were first used, they were to take Gird Trench but the barrage had very little effect and through misinformation the SLI suffered appalling casualties, mown down by German machine guns. One of the men hit was Joseph. Joseph appears to have been taken to a clearing station where he died and was buried but later reburied at Les Beoufs.
On 16th of September 2006 we were at his graveside and we will be there again, God willing, in 2016.
