George Badham Milton

Personal Information
Date of Birth	not known
Place of Birth	Ballarat, Victoria
Death	16 Apr 1917
Place of Death	Lagnicourt, France
Age at Enlistment	34 years old
Description	5'3½" (1.61m) tall; weight 125 lbs (56.7kg); sallow complexion, brown eyes, dark brown hair.
Occupation	labourer
Religion	Church of England
Address	Jarrahdale, Western Australia
Next of Kin	Mother Mrs Mary Jane Milton
Military Information
Reg Number	5154
Date of Enlistment	31 Jan 1916
Rank	Private
Unit/Formation	11th Battalion, 16th Reinforcement, posted to C
Date of Embarkation	31 Mar 1916 - 24 Apr 1916
Ship Embarked On	HMAT A9 Shropshire
Fate	Killed in Action 16 Apr 1917, Lagnicourt
Monument	Jarrahdale
Medals	British War Medal Victory Medal

Pre War

Electoral Roll entries - 1903 - 1906 at Clieveden road, Victoria Park, labourer with parents

War Service

A fortnight after entering Blackboy Hill camp, George was allocated to the 16th reinforcement draft for the 11th Battalion, and travelled with them to Egypt.

On 29 May 1916 he was embarked on HMT Tunisian for Marseilles, arriving on 3 Jun 1916. Ashore, he was sent to the 1st Division's base depot in Étaples until he was required in the battalion.

On 29 Jul 1916 he joined the battalion, and was posted to C Company. On 15 Apr 1917 the 11th Battalion was part of the Australian force holding the front line near Lagnicourt when they were attacked by a German force four times greater than their own. However, they managed under extreme pressure to take back much of the ground lost, despite suffering 1,010 casualties, including 300 taken POW. As George was not able to accounted for, he was posted as missing, with the hope that he would turn up as a POW. However this did not eventuate

Reported missing on 16 Apr 1917 he was declared to have been Killed in Action by a Court of Enquiry held 5 Dec 1917.

"Of C Company, on the 14th April 1917, at Lagnicourt, he was on a machine gun outpost with me. He was killed by concussion from a trench mortar. We were taken Prisoner of War shortly after, his body was left where he fell. Came from Perth, Western Australia." 5351 Pte J.H. Bellew

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  Villers_Bretonneux Memorial - Linton Reynolds photo 2015
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  Linton Reynolds 2015 photo

Notes

George's mother was granted a pension of 40/- per fortnight from 6 Jul 1917.