People on board

MILLER, Ronald Fife

Ronald Fife Miller was born in Edinburgh on the 24th of September 1895 to Thomas Stark Miller and Helen MacKenzie. He was the seventh of their eight children and the youngest surviving child. Thomas Miller was a Clerk in the Registry of Sessines, the Scottish equivalent of the Registry Office, rising to Assistant Chief Clerk.

Ronald Fife Miller worked for the Edinburgh Life Assurance Company before he enlisted in the Royal Scots as a Private, subsequently getting a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. His eldest brother Gregor, who had qualified as a doctor, joined the R.A.M.C. and was awarded the Military Cross in 1916, while his other brother, Lockhart, joined the Dragoon Guards. Ronald was in France from February 1915 and was awarded the Military Cross in November 1916 for bravery in the field at the Battle of Beaumont Hamel, “assuming the command of his company with great courage and determination”.

In March 1918 Ronald Fife Miller married Monica Victoria Law in Wolverhampton They were returning from their honeymoon in Ireland when they travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th of October. They survived the sinking but Monica Miller was taken to St Michael’s Hospital in Dun Laoghaire, though not seriously injured. They subsequently had three children, Gwendoline in 1919, James in 1920 and Patricia in 1922.

In the 1939 Register Ronald Fife Miller was living in Parkdale, Wolverhampton with Edith Lois Kirk, named as his wife in the register though the official marriage registration wasn’t until 1947. He gave his occupation as Manager of an Iron Foundry. Monica Miller has not been found in the Register, and only the youngest child Patricia, who was at school was located. Ronald Fife Miller died in 1962 aged sixty-seven while Monica died in 1985, still using the name Fife Miller.