SON OF CHARLES MCBRYDE MYLES AND MARGARET MYLES, OF 29, SAVILLE RD., SILVERTOWN, LONDON. NATIVE OF PORT GLASGOW, RENFREWSHIRE. One source says born Kilmacolm. Family moved to London but John stayed behind to finish his apprenticeship at Fergusons. When finished he went to London at worked at Sylva Rubber Works. Member of Port Glasgow Rowing Club.

A student of the Woolwich Polytechnic, John Myles entered the Polytechnic as an evening student in September, 1911, continuing his studies in Practical Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering until his enlistment on the outbreak of war (WPM Jan 1916, p.7; WPR). The son of Charles McBride Myles and Margaret Myles, of 29, Saville Road, Silvertown, London (CWGC), he was born in Kilmacolm, and was a native of Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire (SD vol. 14; CWGC). He was employed as a draughtsman by I.R.G.P & Telegraph Workers Company, Silvertown (WPR).

15924, Corporal, 8th Battalion, The Norfolk Regiment (WPM Jan 1916, p.5; SD vol. 14). Enlisted St Paul’s Churchyard (SD vol. 14), he died on October 5th 1915, aged 25 (CWGC). His death was reported, with a slight difference in date, in the first issue of the Woolwich Polytechnic Magazine (Jan 1916), which stated that he ‘was killed in action in France on October 4th, 1915’ (WPM Jan 1916, p.7).

Corporal Myles is buried in Norfolk Cemetery, Becordel-Bécourt, France, in Plot I, Row C, Grave 4. Norfolk Cemetery, east of Albert on the Somme, was first used by the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, in August 1915, and then by other units, including the 8th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. After the Armistice it doubled in size. The cemetery is set in a north-south trending dry valley which is also used by a local road. It is quiet and close to other cemeteries resulting from the battles of 1916. Corporal Myles’ grave bears the private inscription:

‘Eternal rest grant

Unto him o Lord’

Peter Doyle – ‘Doomed Youth’: The War Dead of the Woolwich Polytechnic, 1914–18

Shot by sniper

Newspaper Clippings relating to John Myles

John Myles