The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection

A rare Malabar 1921 operations G.C. (exchange E.G.M.) group of six awarded to Private T. “Dusty” Miller, The Dorsetshire Regiment, who dislodged several enemy snipers during an ambush

George Cross (No. 5718907 Pte. Thomas Miller, The Dorsetshire Regt., 2nd June 1923 ), with its Royal Mint case of issue; 1914-15 Star (8417 Pte. T. Miller, Dorset R.); British War and Victory Medals (8417 Pte. T. Miller, Dorset R.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Malabar 1921-22 (5718907 Pte. T. Miller, Dorsets); Coronation 1953, number officially corrected on the fifth, contact marks, very fine or better (6) £7000-9000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Bill and Angela Strong Medal Collection.

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E.G.M. London Gazette 2 June 1923:

‘For services rendered in connection with military operations in Malabar, 1921-1922.’

The original recommendation states:

‘At Nilanbur on 24 September 1921 this man displayed great gallantry by going forward towards a rebel ambush and firing on it at close range. He was instrumental in dislodging several snipers who were causing casualties to our troops.’

Thomas Frank “Dusty” Miller was born in Portland, Dorset in October 1887, the son of a Portland Prison Warden and the youngest of 16 children. Bored by life as a farm boy near Dorchester, he enlisted in the Dorset Regiment in December 1907 and was serving in the 2nd Battalion out in India by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. Embarked for Mesopotamia that December, he was wounded at Shuaiba on 14 April 1915 and again at Jebel Hamrin in April 1917, but was sufficiently recovered to accompany the Battalion to Basra in the following year, when it joined the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

Post-war, the 2nd Battalion returned to India where, in 1921-22, it was actively engaged in the Moplah Rebellion in the rough terrain of Malabar. And Miller was serving in No. 8 Platoon at the time of winning his E.G.M., when it formed the advanced-guard as the Dorsets made their way into thickly wooded country. Ambushed by the Moplahs, it was quickly ascertained that small arms fire was insufficient to dislodge the rebels, a situation made even more worrying when a Royal Artillery 18-pounder also failed to make any headway. Sergeant Hand of No. 6 Platoon, also part of the advanced-guard, volunteered to go forward and dislodge the enemy with hand grenades, while Miller offered to cover the other side of the road to finish off any Moplahs who tried to get away. The ruse worked perfectly, Miller completing the work by bayoneting a number of the rebels. Four members of the Battalion were subsequently awarded E.G.Ms, in addition to an Assistant Surgeon of the Indian Medical Establishment.

On taking his discharge in April 1923, Miller found employment as a ‘jobbing gardener’ and attended an investiture at Buckingham Palace in February 1942, when he received his G.C. from the King. He died in Birmingham in December 1974.