The Son Who Returned from the Dead and the Unknown Boy in Grave 229A: A Clydebank Mystery

While researching for a client on the British Newspaper Archive, I came across a story from 1931, which I can only describe as a Netflix documentary in the waiting! I couldn't get enough of this story and spent the rest of the night researching and exploring the ins and outs of this real-life mystery.

Linlithgowshire Gazette. 18.09.1931

Daily Record and Mail. 13.09.1931

On the 3rd of March 1928, Mr & Mrs Miller laid their 15-year-old son, George Graham Miller, to rest in Kilbowie Cemetery, Clydebank. George was tragically killed when he was hit by a bus on Dumbarton Road, Yoker, Glasgow, on the 28th of February, 1928. Mrs Miller had positively identified the boy as her son George. George had been missing since September 1926; his parents had no idea of his whereabouts until that tragic day in 1928. George was buried in lair 229A of Kilbowie Cemetery, now, at least, his parents knew where he was, and they could now have some closure.

Mr and Mrs Miller continued to get on with life without their son. Then on the 7th of September 1931, their world was turned upside down. An unexpected note was slipped under their front door at 14 First Terrace, Radnor Park, Clydebank. The note read,

"To Mother, just a few lines to let you know I had the intention of coming home, but now I can't bare it. George.".

As you can imagine, the note was a great shock to the couple, especially Mrs Miller, who believed wholeheartedly that the message was from her son. She was unwavering in her belief that the handwriting was that of her late son. Mr Miller and others were not so convinced, believing it to be someone playing a sick joke. However, confirmation came the next day that note was indeed from George when he stood before his parents at their front door.

While away from home, George assumed the new name of George Stevenson and earned money for his lodgings in various ways, including selling papers and digging up potatoes on farms in Kilmarnock before travelling to Ireland to work in a spinning mill for six months. On his return to Glasgow, George gained employment with a fairground company. According to George, the urge to return home to his family and friends was always there, so he decided to go home. However, when he arrived at the close of 14 First Terrace, his nerves got the better of him, and he decided it was best to leave a note under his parent's door.

The next day, George read in the papers that his parents had received the note, and they were in disbelief as George was presumed dead and buried. Later that day, a childhood friend recognised George and informed her mother, who was a friend of George's aunt, Mrs Steele. George's aunt tracked him down and persuaded him to go back with her to see his parents. George was at last back home with his parents.

The reasoning behind George's disappearance was never truly explained. However, his mother stated in an interview at the time of her son's disappearance that he was an ordinary quiet boy until he contracted scarlet fever at 13. After the illness, George appeared different, with mood swings that would lead him to disappear for days.

As the family rejoiced in the return of their long-lost son, one question hung over the family like a dark cloud. Who had they buried in Kilbowie Cemetery in March of 1928?

On the day of the tragic road accident, a boy was sitting on the back of a lorry; when he went to jump off, he was struck by a bus on Dumbarton Road. The death certificate listed the cause of death as a fractured skull and a laceration to the brain. Witnesses at the time stated that the boy's face was still recognisable. This was somewhat contradicted by Mr Miller when he told the papers that at the time of the accident, the body was so severely injured that he couldn't be 100% sure that the body was that of his son George. It appears that formal identification was made by Mrs Miller, who believed that the scars on the boy's legs matched those found on her son's.

Dumbarton Road, Yoker, Glasgow.

It was customary at the time for photographs to be taken at the mortuary to help identify unidentified bodies. However, since Mrs Miller formally identified the body as her son, the pictures were later destroyed. Meaning that no photographs could be used to help find the true identity of the boy buried in Kilbowie Cemetery. The Millers decided that the unknown boy should remain buried in the grave until his true family were found. However, the stone dedicated to their son should be removed.

I have been in contact with West Dunbartonshire Council, which is in charge of the running of Kilbowie Cemetry, and they have stated that according to their burial records, the body of the boy buried in plot 229A is still listed as George Graham Miller. There has been no attempt to change the boy's name or have him exhumed. It is very likely that the police were unable to locate the unknown boy's family, and he lies unknown to this day in a grave that was never truly meant for him.

John McLellan