Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Three: Private Arthur James Mullins, 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, who was killed in action during the Battle of Gheluvelt on 30 October 1914
1914 Star, with clasp (7608 Pte. A. J. Mullins. 2/ R. Sussex: R.); British War and Victory Medals (L-7608 Pte. A. J. Mullins. R. Suss. R.) nearly extremely fine

Five: Sergeant Alfred Jesse Mullins, 491st (Home Counties) Field Company, Royal Engineers (Territorial Force), who was Mentioned in Despatches for services in Italy during the Great War
1914-15 Star (1622 2-Cpl. A. Mullins. R.E.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (1622 Cpl. A. Mullins. R.E.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45, very fine or better (8) £260-£300

Arthur James Mullins was born in 1886 at St George’s Hanover Square, London. He attested for the Royal Sussex Regiment on 21 October 1903 and served with G Company in the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 12 August 1914. He was killed in action at the Battle of Gheluvelt on 30 October 1914, on which date the battalion was ordered to counter-attack the German positions on the Zandvoorde ridge as part of General Bulfin’s force: over the course of three days’ hard fighting, 29-31 October 1914, the Battalion suffered 405 casualties, and earned for itself the soubriquet ‘The Iron Regiment’. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

Sold together with a mounted portrait photograph of the recipient in uniform, 137 mm x 96 mm and an attractive but worn and slightly damaged cutting from the Bexhill Observer, 18 March 1916, entitled ‘Mothers of the Empire’ featuring the recipient’s mother and her four sons who served during the war, each pictured, two of whom had been killed - John Albert (Royal Naval Division) and Arthur James - and two of whom survived - Alfred Jesse and Frederick (Royal Engineers).

Alfred Jesse Mullins, the brother of the above, was born in 1891 at Pimlico, London. He served with the 491st (Home Counties) Field Company, Royal Engineers (formerly 2nd Home Counties) during the Great War on the Western Front from 17 May 1915 and was mentioned in General Plumer’s Despatch of 18 April 1918 (London Gazette 30 May 1918) for services in Italy. He was discharged to the Class Z Reserve on 24 May 1919 but saw saw further service in searchlight detachments of the Royal Artillery during the Second World War from September 1939 until June 1942, after which he was posted to the Security Police.

Sold together with a quantity of postcard photographs of the recipient in uniform, both Great War and Second World War vintage; photographs of the recipient’s brothers in uniform and other family members; newspaper cuttings and photographs relating to the recipient’s sporting successes, particularly shooting, and a large quantity of other photographs, buttons, badges, medals, silver spoons and ephemera.