William John Ernst Johannes Mulder Miller

Born: Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands Born: Cape Town (Africander)
Died: Cape Town 25/8/1922 Died: Cape Town 6/4/1918 or 6/5/1918
At age 61 & 3 months (birth ? May 1861) At age 70 & 5 months
Married: St Mark’s Church, Cape Town (birth ? September or October 1848)
Arrived in the Colony 27/5/1875
Naturalised: 30/11/1906
Occupation: Lifter, Salt River Works Cape Government Railways
Buried: St John’s Cemetery, Wynberg

On his naturalisation application it states (in 1906) that he was 52 years old – this would make him born in 1854 and 21 years old at the time of his entry, in 1875, into South Africa
On his army records it states that he was 44 years old in 1916 – this would make him 3 years old at the time of his entry into South Africa and born in 1872

At the time of his enlistment he was living in Wargrave Road, Kenilworth. His WW1 service saw him embarking at Cape Town per the S S Barambah on 29 January 1917 where he held the rank of Fireman
He was reported rescued on 16 September 1918 from the Galway Castle

GALWAY CASTLE was built in 1911 by Harland & Wolff at Belfast with a tonnage of 7988grt, a length of 452ft 4in, a beam of 54ft 4in and a service speed of 13 knots. Similar to the Grantully Castle she was the last ship to be delivered before the company was taken over by Royal Mail. In August 1914 she was requisitioned as a troop ship for deployment in the German West Africa campaign against Windhoek. After the German colony was taken over by General Botha in 1915 she reverted to commercial service as the only remaining Union-Castle vessel. On 3rd August 1916 she was attacked by a German bomber near the Gull lightship but the bomb, although scoring a direct hit, failed to explode. She went aground on the Orient Bank at East London on 12th October 1917 but was refloated five days later without any damage. At 07.30 hrs on 12th September 1918 when two days out from Plymouth, she was torpedoed by U-82 and broke her back. At the time she was carrying 400 South African walking wounded, 346 passengers and 204 crew members. So severe was the damage that it was thought that she would sink immediately and it was apparent that U-82 was lining up for another attack. In the rush to abandon ship several lifeboats were swamped by the heavy seas and many finished up in the sea. However, the U-boat did not mount a further attack and the Galway Castle continued to wallow for three days. Destroyers were summoned by radio to rescue survivors who were taken back to Plymouth where it was ascertained that 143 persons had perished. HMS Spitfire remained in attendance and took off the skeleton crew before she finally sank.

He was discharged as permanently medically unfit for further military service at Bordon on 15 October 1918. He was awarded the Silver Badge (L)