Anton Miles (1911-1992) – Sussex Brigader
Born in London in 1911, Miles was a Brighton Communist Party member, and a laboratory assistant and insurance clerk who served with the International Brigade Medical Services.
Banner depicting Anton Miles on Brighton seafront in Sussex Peoples March of History, 1939
Bill Sill, Ernie Trory and Anton Miles at Brighton station on 12 December 1938 homecoming – see the film footage here
After the Second World War, in which he served as a soldier in Cairo, Egypt, he cut all links with the Communist Party and travelled to India to train as a sadhu (holy man), and then trekked penniless, around south-east Asia, before becoming initiated as a Buddhist monk in Bhutan. By 1961 Miles claimed to be Australia’s head warlock! At the time of his death in 1992, he was no longer known as Anton Miles, having become His Holiness Shri Paramahamsha Mahendranth (Dadaji) chief guru of the Adinathas.
As someone who knew Anton in later life, it is great to see his contribution in the Spanish Civil War reflected here. In 1986, he almost moved into my spare room at Shoreham-by-Sea attracted in part by his many good memories of his life in Brighton. He was a colourful character whose experience of war directly influenced his spiritual searching.