Introduction
James Milton was a Colour Sergeant in the Royal Marines Artillery. After retiring, he was the steward of the Ivel Club in Yeovil for at least 37 years. He married Keziah Purchase of Hardington in 1869, and their first two children, William Charles and Robert James, were born in the village.
Childhood in Devon
Born at Uffculme on 12 February 1846, James Milton was the son of William, a farm labourer, and his wife, Charlotte (nee Morgan).[1] He was the younger brother of Charles Milton.
James’s mother died in 1857, aged 39.
Military career
James probably enlisted in the Royal Marines in the 1860s and served for 21 years.
In November 1866, a marine artilleryman named James Milton, who was aboard the Lord Clyde, was fined 40s and costs for committing a brutal assault on Louisa White, the landlady of the Foresters’ Retreat in St Thomas Street, Weymouth. After she stood up to him in a row over bed availability, he had struck her violently in the eye with his clenched fist. While it is not certain that this incident involved our James Milton, it may well have.[2]
In May or June 1869, James Milton, then a gunner in the Royal Marine Artillery, married Keziah Purchase at Hardington. His brother, Charles, a railway labourer, had married Keziah’s sister, Susan, ten years earlier. In 1870, Keziah and Susan’s sister, Eliza, married Edward Reed, a Royal Marine gunner.
James and Keziah settled in Portsea, where James was stationed, and remained there for about fifteen years. The census returns provide two addresses during this time:
April 1871- 2 Worsley Street
April 1881- Royal Marine Barracks
Keziah gave birth to their first two children in her mother’s home at Hardington and their next two at her mother’s home at Evershot.
By April 1881, James had risen to the rank of Colour Sergeant. He retired within the next few years.
Life at Yeovil
In September or October 1884, James became the steward of the Ivel Club at Yeovil, after seeing the position advertised in the Western Gazette.[3]
Up until at least 1914, James and his family lived at 1 Beaconsfield Terrace.
Keziah died on 7 November 1914, aged 70, leaving an estate valued at £216, which she bequeathed to her husband.[4]
By June 1921, James lived with his sons, Joseph and Charles, at the Ivel Club located at 5 Frederick Place, Yeovil.
Retirement at Wincanton
When James made his will on 17 August 1927, he lived with his married daughter, Edith Rose Barrett, at 61 High Street, Wincanton.
James died on 5 April 1931 at 1 Laburnum Villas, Wincanton, the home of his daughter, Edith, at the age of 87.
The will of James Milton
James left an estate valued at £553-6s-10d gross and £526 10s 4d net. He bequeathed £5 to each of his two executors, his medals and case to his son, William Charles Milton, and the remainder to his five children, William Charles Milton, Robert James Milton, Edith Rose Barrett, Joseph Milton and Samuel Milton as tenants in common. He left nothing to his son, Charles Milton, because he had given him financial assistance before 1924.[5]
Children
James and Keziah had eight sons and three daughters. Two daughters, Charlotte Ruth and Susan Elizabeth, died in early adulthood, and two sons, John and Thomas, were killed on the Western Front.[6] Another son, George, may have died between 1921 and 1927.[7]
References
[1] Uffculme baptism register.
[2] Sherborne Mercury, 20 November 1867, p.7.
[3] Western Gazette, 29 August 1884, p.4.
[4] The will of Keziah Milton, dated 5 August 1908, proved at Taunton on 30 November 1914.
[5] The will of James Milton, dated 17 August 1927, proved in London on 19 May 1931.
[6] Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 25 January 1898, p.8; Western Chronicle, 10 March 1899, p.8; Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919.
[7] George Milton is on the census of 1921 but not mentioned in his father’s will.
