Great-nephew's bid to track down First World War medals awarded to Chesterfield soldier

The plaque to Pte A Millward at the Lochnagar Crater, one the bloodiest square mile on the Western Front.

Family members are trying to track down the medals of a Chesterfield soldier who died in the Great War but whose body was never found.

Arthur Millward was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his military service but their whereabouts nowadays is a mystery.

His great-nephew Gary Millward, who lives at Brimington Common, said: “Due to family separations, it is a hard quest to locate anything, hence the reason we don’t know where the medals are. In World War One the soldier’s name was engraved around the rim of each medal so they must be somewhere in the world.”

Gary makes an annual pilgrimage to the Somme to pay tribute to his Uncle Artie who was killed in the Battle of Bazentin Ridge and was listed as missing in action. Arthur has no known grave but his sacrifice is honoured on the Thiepval Memorial where his name appears alongside those of 72,000 comrades who were never found. A plaque bearing Arthur’s name also appears with hundreds of others around the walkway of the Lochnagar crater, once the bloodiest square mile on the Western Front and now a place where peace, remembrance and reconciliation are actively promoted.

Derbyshire Courier's report of war casualties in 1916.

Private Millward was just 24 and serving with the 7th battalion Leicester Regiment when they engaged in the first night-time attack during the Battle of the Somme. His company rushed out of their trenches protected by darkness and a barrage from their own artillery guns. The waiting enemy put up strong resistance, with machine gun fire pinning Arthur and his comrades down in no man’s land and heavy casualties ensuing. Throughout the day, the survivors came under extreme pressure from machine guns, snipers and howitzers as they advanced.

By the close of that day – July 14, 1916, Trones Wood had fallen along with almost the entire length of the original enemy second line from Longueval to Bazentin le Petit but at a heavy price with nearly 10,000 dead, wounded and missing. Searches of the battlefield, hospitals and casualty clearing stations failed to find Pte Millward’s body and eight days after the battle, Arthur was classified on his official war record as Missing in Action.

According to the Derbyshire Courier newspaper, Arthur’s wife Bridget learned that her husband had died from a serious bullet wound after receiving a letter from one of his comrades.

Arthur and Bridget, who had a son Stanley and daughter Mary Hilda, had been married less than five years when the wartime tragedy struck. The couple first met when Bridget was boarding at the Millward family’s home on Wheeldon Lane, Chesterfield, in an area known as the Dog Kennels.

The Thiepval Monument honours the ultimate sacrifice made by Pte Arthur Millward and more than 72,000 other comrades whose bodies were never found.

A miner at Grassmoor Colliery, Arthur would have been exempt from war service as all miners were but did the honourable thing and enlisted.

Arthur’s military record was colourful and eventful. After arriving in France in 1915 he was reported to the Officer Commanding for being “negligent” whilst on sentry duty and received three days Field Punishment No2.

The following year Arthur was attached to the 154 Company Royal Engineers to help in manoeuvres during the Somme offensive build-up. He rejoined his battalion just a couple of weeks before his own war began and his luck ran out.