WW1 British War Medal (Single medal only, brooched & missing suspender) – Awarded to Private ARTHUR MIZEN of the 9th (Service) Battalion the Essex Regiment – KIA Battle of the Somme 1916 (Ovilers-La Boisselle)

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0040

WW1 British War Medal (Single medal only, brooched & missing suspender) – Awarded to Private ARTHUR MIZEN of the 9^th (Service) Battalion the Essex Regiment – KIA Battle of the Somme 1916 (Ovilers-La Boisselle)

You are looking at a single, and very noticeably incomplete and seemingly brooched British War Medal awarded to ARTHUR MIZEN of the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Essex Regiment.

The medal is missing its suspender, and it appears to have been brooched at some point in its life, with obvious markings to the left and right of King GEORGE Vs head.

The medal is inscribed ‘19274 PTE. A.MIZEN. ESSEX.R.’

ARTHUR MIZEN, the son of WALTER and ELIZA MIZEN of Great Bardfield near Braintree in Essex, was a lance-corporal in the 9^th (Service) Battalion the Essex Regiment when he was killed in action on the 3^rd of July 1916, the third day of the Battle of the Somme, and specifically, whilst involved in the battalion’s assault on the village of Ovillers-La Boisselle, that resulted in the unit sustaining a very large number of casualties, with in the region of 398 officers and men killed, wounded or missing.

It is worth noting that at the time of the Battle of the Somme, an infantry battalion may have been in the region of 1,000 men in strength, with some, the sick and wounded for example, remaining behind in England and awaiting being called upon to join the battalion overseas as and when required. In fact a battalion on the ground may have been more in the region of 700 to 800 strong, and if that was the case with the 9^th Battalion of the Essex Regiment, so let’s say it was made up of 750 men just prior to the operation on the 3^rd of July, then the loss of 398 officers and men killed, wounded or missing after it would have been a loss of over 50%, over half of the battalion, and a significant problem, not only in relation to the battalion and its effectiveness to take part in future actions, but to the morale of the remaining members, who would have seen friends and colleagues killed or just not returning after the event.   

And ARTHUR was one of those who never returned from the attack. He was originally recorded as missing, and it appears that his body was never recovered, because he is commemorated at the ‘Thiepval Memorial’ that is dedicated to those soldiers who have no known grave.

The relevant pages from the 9^th Battalion’s War Diary, and the handwritten summary of what occurred that day, titled ‘Report on operation carried out against Ovillers on the morning of the 3^rd July 1916’, have been obtained and will accompany this medal.

As you can see, the medal has, at some point in its history, been converted into a brooch, with the brooch fitting seemingly removed, whilst leaving visible evidence of the alteration. It is impossible to know who and why this conversion was carried out, but it was not uncommon for the medals awarded to soldiers killed during WW1 to be adapted in this way and worn by close family members. Whether this medal was worn by Arthur's mother or another relative can never be known, but the alteration does form part of the medal's own history.

ARTHUR was one of four brothers who served during WW1, and thankfully, for their parents, and then their mother on her own, because their father WALTER died in 1917, it must have been a difficult time, having lost one son to the War and having the trepidation of knowing her other three sons were also fighting overseas, with one brother, FREDERICK WILLIAM MIZEN, a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery, suffering a gunshot wound in 1917 that resulted in him losing his left eye and finger, and being discharged from the army in 1918......FRED went on to become a master craftsman in straw, creating the giant ‘Lion and Unicorn’ sculpture that was used at the Festival of Britain in 1951.

SELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and / or created during this research will be provided.