The Milton family has lived in Milton for more than 100 years.

As supporters of Milton Athletic, pupils of Milton Primary School and residents of Milton Road, the family has had a remarkable connection to their home town.

Alexander Milton and his wife moved into 97 Raphael Road, just off Milton Road, in the 1910s and it was the start of a long connection to the area.

Children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have since been born, but as a family of boys, the Milton name has survived.

Alexander was a Thames river pilot and the only resident of the street with a telephone. Along with one of his sons, he took charge of a Polish tug to evacuate troops from Dunkirk in 1940.

The youngest of his four sons, Stanley Reginald Milton, was also a soldier.

In 1947 Stanley offered his neighbour, June, a ride on the back of his much-loved Ariel Square 4 motorbike. June was destined to be more than his neighbour.

She said yes and quickly ran home, just three doors down to number 91, to put on a scarf and some trousers.

Her grandmother, witness to the whole thing, said: “I hope you’re not going out on that motorbike” to which the then 17-year-old replied “oh yes I am”.

That was the start of the couple’s 67-year long relationship.

Just before Stanley was made to return to war in 1950 to fight against the North Korean and Chinese armies, he proposed to June, and the pair became Mr and Mrs Milton when they married at Milton Church within a week. Two years of battle had passed before the pair were reunited in Milton for good.

Over the next six decades, the second generation of Miltons found a love for dancing.

June worked in Marks & Spencer in New Road and would knit while Stanley worked as a bus driver and spent his spare time playing for Milton Athletic Football Club. They then moved to East Milton Road and sons Peter and Paul were christened at – aptly enough – St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Milton-next-Gravesend, to give it its proper title. The boys went to Milton Road Primary School which had opened in 1885 as Milton Road Board School with 190 boys, 150 girls and 110 infants. It closed in 1976.

Peter started his career as a hospital administrator in London where he met his wife and brought up the next generation of Miltons.

When his son’s fiancee visited Milton for the first time recently, she could not help but laugh at the shared namesake on every other corner. She almost believed the family owned Gravesend. Stanley died in 2014 and his mother remained the only Milton in Milton until she too died in April of this year.

The family have now sold June’s house which ends an era of Miltons living in Milton.

Peter, 63, said: “I am a little bit sad about it and it is only now that I have begun to realise that this is probably a unique story.

“How many other people can claim such a connection to a place?

“The fact that I live in London while my younger brother now lives in the Philippines will not stop me from having this connection and I will make annual pilgrimages because I love the history of Gravesend – Pocahontas, Milton Chantry, General Gordon, the market with its medieval charter, the Three Daws and more. As a Milton, I will be back.”

The Milton family may have left Milton, but Peter’s five sons – Andrew, Ashley, Nicholas, Alexander and Stephen – will be sure to continue the family name for generations still to come.