Name
Edward James Mullins
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
21/03/1918
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
15336
Worcestershire Regiment
2nd/8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
POZIERES MEMORIAL
Panel 41.
France
UK & Other Memorials
Abbots Langley Village Memorial
Biography
Edward Mullins was killed in action on the opening day of the German Spring Offensive in March 1918. In one last attempt to win the War the Germans mounted a massive, surprise attack along much of the British Front, almost breaking through in many places. The British retreated and re-grouped, but not before they had lost many men dead or captured. Four other Abbots Langley men were killed during the Spring Offensive – Leonard Chalk, Joseph Belsham, Ernest Roome and Frederick Puddefoot
The 2/8th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment was located at several places just to the north St Quentin, and met various fates. Some fought until surrounded and beaten. Others surrendered quickly. The battalion suffered many casualties, and many men were taken prisoner. Edward Mullins was killed in one of these actions.
The War Diary for the 2/8th Worcester’s noted that at 4.10am “the enemy started intense bombardment of our line with 5.9’s and trench mortars. Gas shells used in Selency Valley against Ellis Redoubt. Very thick mist”. At 2.30pm the situation had worsened. Reports were received at Brigade HQ of problems in the whole Forward Zone. The last message that got away from Ellis Redoubt was at 2.30pm. At 5.00pm the Diarist reported “Enemy in large numbers in all Forward Zones. Ellis Redoubt surrounded but still fighting”. At the end of the day 21 Officers and 566 Other Ranks were reported missing, and presumably one of these was Edward Mullin, who may have perished at Ellis Redoubt, where most of the Worcester’s fell, but in the confusion that followed was recorded as “Missing in Action” at the time.
The Hertfordshire Advertiser (17th October 1914) record Edward in its Leavesden Asylum Roll of Honour, and this indicated that he joined up early in the War. The Leavesden Parish Record showed that he had “joined HM Forces” in October 1914 and confirmed that he was employed as an Attendant at the Asylum. At the age of 32 Edward married Emma Johnson at Abbots Langley on 20th October 1917, and hence he was born in 1884 or 1885.
Edward Mullins was not recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine until his death was reported in November 1919, a year after the Armistice.
“Edward James Mullins, of the 2/8 Worcester Regiment, was reported missing in March 1918, and has lately been recorded as killed. He was married in our Church in October, 1917, and his widow, who has the sympathy of us all, is still living among us.”
Edward James Mullins was commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, on the Somme, and also on the Abbots Langley War Memorial. Leonard Chalk from Abbots Langley was commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial too. Another Edward Mullins was recorded on the Pozieres Memorial, killed in action on the same day (21st March 1918). This man was born in Twerton Bath in 1895 and served with the Somerset Light Infantry.
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
