Godfrey Clive Miller was born at Wellington New Zealand on 20 August 1893, the second son of a Scots-born bank accountant, Thomas Tripney Miller and his wife, Isabella Duthie. In 1896, just after the birth of his sister Mera, his mother died of tuberculosis. Two years later his father married his mother’s older sister, Eliza, and four more children followed. As his father was a manager of the Bank of Australasia, the family spent some years based at different towns throughout New Zealand. In 1908 they finally settled in Dunedin in the South Island, where Miller completed his high school education at Otago Boys High. In 1910 he began day classes at Dunedin Technical School and evening classes at Otago School of Art and Design so that he could train as an architect. In about 1911 he was apprenticed as a draughtsman with Salmond and Vanes, Dunedin, at at the same time also worked as a carpenter on city buildings. In 1914 he was admitted as an Associate Member of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, and the same year took extra painting classes with Alfred Henry O’Keefe.
On 20 October 1914 Miller enlisted as an Army private in the Divisional Signal Co. New Zealand Engineers. He was promoted to Sergeant by the time the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force sailed for Egypt on 14 December.
The promotion did not last. After training at Egypt, he landed at Gallipoli where he served as a flag signaller and was promoted again to Lance-Corporal. He was wounded on 7 August and evacuated to Egypt
- Writers:
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- Date written:
- 2012
- Last updated:
- 2012
