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Auction: 23001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 90

A most unusual group of four awarded to Staff Captain Sir W. F. Miller, 5th Baronet Glenlee, late British Red Cross Society and Imperial Yeomanry, an Old Harrovian who fought during the Boer War and commenced the Great War as a Red Cross Messenger, only to later be appointed Staff Captain of 17th Corps and was wounded in 1918

Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Rhodesia, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Lieut. Sir. W. F. Miller. Bart. 18/ Impl: Yeo.); 1914 Star (Sir W. F. Miller. B.R.C.S. & O. St. J. J.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. Sir. W. F. Miller. Bt.), mounted as worn, sold together with a British Red Cross Society enamelled badge named on the reverse '358 Sir William Miller. Bart., minor edge wear, very fine (4)

William Frederick Miller was born on 7 April 1868, the son of Sir Thomas Miller, 4th Baronet Glenee and Lady Isabella Miller. Succeeding to the Baronetcy in 1875 (at the tender age of seven) he was later educated at Harrow. Miller later had the family home, Barskimming House, rebuilt after it was sadly destroyed by fire. Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment in 1886 he relinquished his commission the following year - however he returned to the colours on the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War. Joining the 18th (Queen's Own Royal Glasgow and Lower Ward of Lanark) Company, 6th (Scottish) Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry, in March 1900 (having been commissioned Lieutenant on 24 March), he served in South Africa for over a year but was invalided home before the end of the war.

A noted figure in his time, Miller joined the Red Cross on the outbreak of the Great War, being listed as a Red Cross Messenger - their task being to convey messages between London and Paris in the early months of the war. He is mentioned in a newspaper article entitled Peers and M.P.'s Who Run Errands Between London and Paris. Miller is noted as having entered the war in France on 17 October 1914 and serving with the post of Billeting Officer. Later commissioned as a Captain with the Staff Corps of 17th Corps, in this role he was wounded on 29 September 1918. Miller died at Twyford Abbey Park on 20 December 1918; sold together with a newspaper article and copied research comprising Peerage entry, London Gazette extracts and probate listing as well as a House and Heritage entry on Barskimming House, medal rolls and M.I.C.

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