Hi Tim,, we knew Sydney John milligan has our grandfather,, the story goes he absconded from the army 1915 ish he met our grandmother Elsie yarnold at her home in balcombe Sussex, we were told he was billeted there she fell pregnant so they eloped he then we were told joined the merchant seaman, we have no details of him can't fi nd him on census, all we have are his marriage to Elsie in Birkenhead 1927 they married many years after they had seven children, recently l found news paper cuttings on Balcombe Web site saying the Manchester 2/8 ardwick battalion guarded the Balcombe railways,, one story was that Sydney was guarding the valcom e viaduct,, lve asked on many sites but my best upto date on Sydney is a police gazzette post saying he was at this, address it was posted 1917, the address turned out to be the same place his first son was born, so we thought we'd cracked it,, my husbands father once said he thought his father had a name change,, on the post 1917 it says he was a ships greeser aged 40 yrs so this makes him born 1877,, on the 1939 register it gives his birth as 26/12/87 but nothing for this, date and name match,, he died 1947 he is a complete mystery.. Would we be able to track him down we think he may have changed his name after he left balcombe, I've tried to give you most of what we have heard from family, thanks saidy
