Roll of Honour
Lance Corporal
William Miller
Student
William Miller was born on the 22nd December 1894 at 88 Campbell Street, Riccarton, Ayrshire. He was the son of James Miller, an Engine Fitter, and Mary Miller (née Greenshields). After his early education at Hurlford, he left to go to Kilmarnock Academy in 1910. There he was remembered as 'a cheerful pupil with a ready greeting', though it was noted that he could sometimes be a 'little wistful'. He enjoyed the Literary Society and took part in its debates, contributing effective speeches and injecting humorous comments.
William left the Academy in 1913, having completed the three-year Junior Student’s Certificate course. This involved 280 hours of instruction in the art of teaching and was a standard qualification for entry to teacher training college. That autumn, he enrolled at the Glasgow Provincial Training College (forerunner of Jordanhill College of Education, now the University of Strathclyde) for a four-year course of teacher training offered in conjunction with the University of Glasgow. Students on this course were required to matriculate and study concurrently at the University. If successful, they obtained two qualifications: the Teacher’s General Certificate, entitling them to teach in primary schools, and an Arts degree.
Eighteen year old William settled into his first year, lodging at 216 Woodlands Road with a Mrs Small. He enrolled for classes in Latin and Mathematics. That year he also listed his father's occupation as 'Innkeeper', but it could only have been a temporary change of occupation and the following year he is again described as an Engine Fitter. In 1914, as war broke out, William returned to class to re-take Latin, and enrol for French and English. He did well at English and was a prize-winner in Professor William McNeil Dixon's ordinary class, taking eighth place. He had also joined the Officers’ Training Corps in 1914 and it was no surprise to find his name in the ranks of the Cameronians the following spring.
Like many young men, he put a promising career on hold to fight for his country, abandoning both his degree studies and his professional training course. He volunteered in April 1915. After training at Tain, he joined Signals and distinguished himself in the exams. For a short time he acted as a Signals Instructor, but on the 1st April 1916 he was posted to France, where he saw very active service in the trenches. On the 28th July 1917 he was very severely wounded. Lance Corporal William Miller died the next day, aged 23. He is buried at Vlamertinghe Cemetery in Belgium, and is remembered on the Roll of Honour of the Glasgow Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers and on the Glasgow Provincial Training College war memorial, located in the David Stow Building on the former Jordanhill Campus.
Comments and Citations
University of Glasgow Faculty and Registry records.
Biographical information: Records of the Glasgow Provincial Training College, forerunner of Jordanhill College of Education - now the University of Strathclyde). Information provided