Ernest J Mullen

[Bob J]

The medals of E J Mullen. 

Found in a tin box by me (along with others) in a garden shed of the bungalow we moved into a few years ago.

This is another soldier who has no record on findmypast so I know nothing about him.

My photography isn't the best so here's the details from the edges.

329051  GNR. E. J. MULLEN. R. A.    The centre medal is slightly different,  826  GNR. E. J. MULLEN. R. A.  

[PRC]

As it says on the back, the middle medal in the top two pictures was issued by the Territorial Force - which raises the probability that 826 and 329051 are the service numbers for the same man before and after the Territorial Force renumbering at the start of 1917.

And as far as I'm aware there were no medals issued to the R.A. in the Great War - the Corps of Artillery had split pre-war into the Royal Field Artillery, (R.F.A.), Royal Horse Artillery, (R.H.A.), and the Royal Garrison Artillery, (R.G.A.).

A check of the MiCs in the National Archive catalogue using search criteria Corps = Artillery and Regiment number = 329051, brings up only one match. Thats an Ernest J. Mullen, Royal Garrison Artillery, who the MiC shows received the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the Territorial Force War Medal.

Image courtesy of Ancestry - unfortunately I only have a free account so can't delve further.

The Medal Rolls, (Ancestry only) also appear to just show him as Ernest J. Mullen. May be worth checking out the joint one for the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, as the RGA's are sometimes helpful with the unit(s) served with.

Our parent site, the Long, Long Trail records that in the 1917 Territorial Force renumbering, 329051 would have come from the number block allocated to Devon Fortress RGA. http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/renumbering-of-the-territorial-force-in-1917/renumbering-of-the-tf-artillery-in-1917/

Hopefully one of the Artillery experts will be along shortly, but until then a couple of previous threads from the forum touching on men from this UK located unit serving overseas.

The last of these shows Ernest as one of those who deployed overseas.

Hope that gets you started.

Peter

[Bob J]

Many thanks Peter. I did google his number and name when I found them about seven years ago, all I found is his name is Ernest

and he was Royal Artillery. I thought subscribing to a genealogy site would get me some answers, looks like I picked the wrong one!  

[charlie962]

The TF War Medal Roll on Ancestry records him as 159 Heavy Battery RGA.

"Ancestry.co.uk - UK, World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920" https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/5119/images/41806_612057_10765-00138?backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&queryId=b3853acf784ad86f05ab2f2dec88fdbb&pId=1104130

I believe the battery was formed from Devon RGA and went to France June 1916 which would fit with the medals (eg no star).

Charlie

 

[charlie962]

Have a look at this thread which lists him going overseas with the battery at some point - sourced from medal roll I mentioned above, so no date...(edit)

"TF men in the 159th (Devon) Heavy Battery, RGA - Soldiers and their units - The Great War (1914-1918) Forum" https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/234201-tf-men-in-the-159th-devon-heavy-battery-rga/

Edited 20 June , 2022 by charlie962

[PRC]

It can be hard to find War Diaries for Royal Garrison Artillery Heavy Batterys and Siege Batterys that served in France & Flanders. They came under Corps and Army control rather than Divisional, and Batterys would quite often move rapidly between different parts of the organisation as required, with Battery's coming together under Heavy Artillery Group's (HAG's) as needed.

For an indication of which HAG's 159th Heavy Battery served under see this thread

Should you want to follow through war diaries can currently be downloaded for free from the National Archive. You do need to sign in with your account, but if you don't have one, even that can be set up as part of placing your first order. Just click on "sign in" on any page on the site and follow the instructions - no financial details are requested.

Finding the HAG diaries seems to be a bit of a dark art, so hopefully someone with more experience in that particular area will chip in. Of course it is very unlikely Ernest will get a mention - it's more to get a feel for where they were and what they were up to.

Switching to the civil records , there appears to be only one likely birth in England & Wales - that of an Ernest John Mullen which was registered with the civil authorities in the Sunderland District of County Durham in the July to September quarter, (Q3), of 1895. His mothers' maiden name was Finn. Of course the soldier could have been born elsewhere, have been registered under a different name or even not registered at all, etc, etc. That man can be followed through the civil record all the way through to his death in 1959. On the 1911 Census he was a Coal Hewer at a Colliery. While many miners did enlist, by 1915 with Britain now fighting a modern industrial war, a significant number were released back to the old occupation as they could be of more use to the war effort there - and any further recruiting was pretty much frozen. So my gut feel is that this is not your man.

14 hours ago, Bob J said:

I thought subscribing to a genealogy site would get me some answers, looks like I picked the wrong one!  

They all have pluses and minuses - however if your FMP subscription includes newspapers and periodicals you may want to put in a search for "Ernest" "Mullen" and "Devon" and you will get some reports from 1928 and 1931 that put a barman, Ernest James Mullen, in the Ilfacombe area. On the latter reports he is aged 44, so born c1887. Interestingly in connection with those reports it appears that he was sentenced to three months in prison by the civil power.  I believe that was sufficient to mean that all his medals were forfeit. As they still exist one can only assume that rightly or wrongly he claimed they were no longer in his possession - if of course that is the right individual. Normally there is a note about the conviction on the MiC.

Armed with that information there is indeed an Ernest James Mullen, aged 24, born Ilfracombe and working as an Ironmongery Shop Assistant at the time of the 1911 Census of England & Wales - which you should be able to see on FMP. He was living then at Adelaide House, 8 Market Street, Ilfracombe. This was the household of his widowed mother, Martha Mullen, a lodging house keeper. Ernest was her only child. Earlier censuses saw the family recorded as Mullins, (1901) and Mutlon or Mullow, (1891 - depending on which source you look at). But they were always at Ilfracombe, and Ernests' place of birth is consistantly given as that town.

That's also of particular relevance as the thread I've linked to about the 159th Royal Garrison Artillery includes a postcard of the "boys from Combe" - so Ernest may possibly be present.

Hope that is of interest.
Peter

Edited 21 June , 2022 by PRC
Typo

[Bob J]

Blimey Peter @PRC that's some detective work!  We did do a local area check for Mullens family when I first found the medals but were

unsuccessful. If I could find his grandchildren I would hand them over, failing that, post them to the RA Museum.  I do feel uneasy hanging onto

them but certainly don't want to profit from them either.

[PRC]

9 hours ago, Bob J said:

If I could find his grandchildren I would hand them over, failing that, post them to the RA Museum. 

No obvious marriage in England & Wales, and after his conviction in 1931 he seems to have dropped off the map. Probably worth checking out those newspaper articles to see if his marital status is recorded. As he was an only child you probably need to do some genealogical detective work of your own to try and identify his nearest family.

As to giving the medals to a Museum, they normally have loads and only display those of the greatest historical significance. Anything else is sold to raise funds.

When we get requests on the forum from descendants looking to be re-united with family medals, some of the standard advice is to set up alerts on the likes of ebay so that if they come on the market the family can try and purchase them. The reverse of that is if you were to list them on your preferred site, such alerts can be triggered. If a descendant then contacts you and you're satisfied with their bona fides you can always cancel the sale and arrange to send it on. And if you get no contact and the sale goes ahead, then nothing stopping you donating the proceeds to a charity like Help for Heroes or your local branch of the Royal British Legion.

Cheers,
Peter

[Bob J]

@PRC

Many thanks for the advice Peter. Through the wife's Facebook this week we have managed to find some born and bred local Cullen names, fired 

of messages and e-mails but no replies as yet...

 

[The Inspector]

Hi All,

James B Mullen (ins, on, )Ernest James Mullen's (birth reg'd as  Mullon) father died in 1905, his mother Martha N Mullins (Nee Ley) died in 1922.

Tree on Ancestry re Ley family   https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/74015173/family?cfpid=390182466196&fpid=390182466196&usePUBJs=true...searching

Regards Barry

[tankengine888]

From what I see
Shop Assistant living with Mother and her nieces - Year was 1911 living on 8 Market Street, Ilfracombe

Tobacconist - Year was 1914 living on 55 High Street [Other record states 56 High Street]

Jeweller living alone - Year was 1919 living on 55 High Street

PRC said 'After his conviction in 1931 he seems to have dropped off the map'.. seems to make sense to forgo the shame....
That's the extent of my knowledge via Ancestry.