Back in May of 1998 the postman made a surprise delivery to me;
a heavy parcel containing the above 5 inch diameter bronze medallion
had been sent to me by a friend in Cornwall.
My friend was the Reverend David Nash,
he and I had been corresponding for some time on the parish records of
Cressing and Rivenhall in Essex,
David was the Vicar of Rivenhall for many years and had been so interested in the people,
and their history in the parish, that he had decided to write a detailed account of life in Rivenhall.
 When David retired to Cornwall he took with him,
copies of all the records he needed for his project,
He also kept in touch with many of his old parishioners who would help him with the quest.
One day he received a letter from an old Cressing friend along with the bronze medallion that simply stated;
'the medallion had been found in the ashes of a bon fire after the remains of a cottage clearance were destroyed'. 

'The Dead Mans Penny'
WILLIAM WALTER JOSLIN
“He died for freedom and Honour”

The history of the bronze medallions was that after the First World War the then government decided to issue
these 5 inch diameter medallions to all of the families of those killed in the great war,
it is said that some families thought of it as an insult and returned or destroyed them.
This is now referred to as the dead mans penny.
1,355.000 were issued and there can hardly have been a family in
Britain that was not touched by this tragedy in our history.

My research on
William Walter JOSLIN shows that he died aged 30 years old,
on Saturday the 3rd of November 1917 in Palestine,
he is Remembered with honour in the Deir El Belah war cemetery Israel.
He was a Private in “A” Coy. 1st / 5th Battalion. Essex Reg.
The son of Thomas and Emma (nee Surridge) JOSLIN of Links Cottages, Cressing and a native of Rivenhall.
Other children of Thomas and Emma were :
George Herbert b.1871, Edith E. b.1875, Lilly b.1877, Harry Thomas b.1878, James b.1883,
Alfred Charles b.1885, and Ivy May Constance b.1893.

WILLIAM WALTER JOSLIN
was born in Rivenhall on the 17th June 1887 to Thomas and Emma JOSLIN nee SURRIDGE
and was their seventh child, he died in Egypt 1917.
His death is commemorated on the war memorial in Cressing Church Yard as Walter JOSLIN.
the parents of Thomas were Nathan JOSLIN and Maria WILLISHER
and this family line goes back to Joslin JOSLIN b.1690  Stebbing Essex.

I have a copy of William Walter's Birth Certificate and Will and
further details of his death can be found on the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site www.cwgc.org.uk/register
William Walter is my BK# 8993

click here for Walter James