Lieutenant Lawrence Frank MILNER (1911)

1/9th King’s (Liverpool Regiment)
Born 17 October 1892 in Crosby, Liverpool
Killed in action 25 September 1915, aged 22
Commemorated on the Loos Memorial, Pas-de-Calais, France. Also commemorated on a stained glass window at St Mary the Virgin Church, Waterloo Park, Liverpool.

Lawrence Milner was the younger son of Christopher Shepherd Milner and Agnes, née Rigby, of ‘Bowscale’, Linden Avenue, Blundellsands, Liverpool.He was educated at Ballure House prep school and, with a Harrison Scholarship, at Merchant Taylors’ School, Crosby, where he played for the rugby XV in the 1910-11 season and was made Head Boy in 1910. He took second class honours in Classical Mods in 1913.

He enlisted as soon as war broke out and was granted a commission as Second Lieutenant on 22 August 1914, being posted to the 1/9th Battalion King’s (Liverpool Regiment) which moved to Tunbridge Wells in October for training. When training was complete, they moved to France landing at Le Havre on 13 March 1915, becoming part of the 1st Division. In the May after their arrival in France, the battalion took part in the failed Battle of Aubers Ridge. They then spent time in reserve before training for their next attack in the Battle of Loos.

It was during this engagement that Lawrence was killed, on 25 September 1915. A fellow solider, another Merchant Taylors Old Boy, reported seeing him binding the wounds of his orderly who was shot a few moments earlier. Lawrence was kneeling in tall grass about 300 yards from the enemy trenches when he was shot in the head. He died about half an hour later, aged 22.

He was buried near Lone Tree within a few yards of where he fell, but his grave was subsequently lost and he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.