Cpl 31158 Stanley Frank Collins

• Age: 24
• From: Mapleton, Derbyshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Guillemont Rd Cem
  Panel Ref: V.O.1

Stanley Frank Collins was born on 04^th September 1891 in Mapleton, Derbyshire, the son of Alfred Herbert Collins who had been born in Kent and his wife Elizabeth Annie (nee Jones) who was born in Shrewsbury. The couple were married in December 1874 in Shropshire. Stanley was baptised on 08th November 1891 in the Parish of Mapleton, his father's occupation at the time given as coachman. His parents had at least ten children, all boys. Their first child, James Herbert, was born in Shropshire, after which the family moved to Staffordshire, where seven more sons were born: Alfred Henry, William John Charles, Sydney Arthur, Ernest Edward, Miles Ernest, Walter Edmund, and George Edward. By 1891 they are found in Derbyshire, where Stanley and Allen Gilbert were born.

The 1901 Census finds the family are living in 65 Axbridge Street, Toxteth. Alfred is working as a coachman. The couple have five sons living with them - Ernest aged 18 is working as a groom, Walter 16 is a gardener, there’s George aged 14, Stanley 10 and Allen 8. His other brothers live elsewhere.

Stanley joined the Royal Navy on 11th March 1908, giving his age as 18 when in fact he was 16 and a half years old, occupation labourer in a safe works. He was described as being 5' 9 and a half inches tall, with brown hair, light brown eyes, and a fresh complexion. He enlisted for 12 years and served as a stoker on H.M.S. Acheron. However, his mother appears to have purchased his discharge, as his Navy record shows a payment of £10 from her on 20th January 1910, her address at that time 29 Dove Street, Lodge Lane.

His father died in 1911 aged 56. This was prior to the Census of 1911 at which time his 60 year old widow Elizabeth was living at 21 Longfellow Street, Toxteth Park, Liverpool. Living with Elizabeth is Stanley, aged 20, who is working on the railways as a lampman, his widowed brother Herbert, aged 36, who is a coachman, and Herbert’s three children Elizabeth, Edith and Alfred. Also living there is older brother Ernest aged 25 who is a coachman too. 

His mother Elizabeth Annie died, aged 64, on the 21st November 1914. 

Stanley enlisted in about July 1915 joining the 17^th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private 31158. 

He arrived in France some time in 1916.

He had achieved the rank of Corporal when he was killed in action on the 30^th July 1916 at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive.

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.

He was buried close to where he fell and his grave marked with a cross. After the war, when graves were concentrated, his body was removed and reinterred in Guillemont Road Cemetery where he now rests. 

Guillemont was an important point in the German defences at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. It was taken by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on 30 July but the battalion was obliged to fall back, and it was again entered for a short time by the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on 8 August. On 18 August, the village was reached by the 2nd Division, and on 3 September (in the Battle of Guillemont) it was captured and cleared by the 20th (Light) and part of the 16th (Irish) Divisions. It was lost in March 1918 during the German advance, but retaken on 29 August by the 18th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.

The cemetery was begun by fighting units (mainly of the Guards Division) and field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont, and was closed in March 1917, when it contained 121 burials. It was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves (almost all of July-September 1916) were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village and certain smaller cemeteries.

Guillemont Road Cemetery now contains 2,263 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,523 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to eight casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

Stanley’s pension card shows next of kin as his niece, Miss Elizabeth Annie Collins, 21 Longfellow Street, Lodge Lane, Liverpool who received his outstanding Army pay and a War Gratuity of £4.

His family paid tribute to his mother and Stanley in the Liverpool Echo on 21st November 1916: 

COLLINS—In loving memory of our dear Grandmother, Elizabeth Collins, who died November 21, 1914; also of Corporal S. F. Collins (our Stan) killed in action, July 30 ,1916  

Sleep on dear Stan, in a foreign grave; 

Your life for your country you nobly gave.  

• Never forgotten by Allen, Lizzie, Edith and Herbert, 21 Longfellow Street. 

His family also paid tribute to Stanley in the Liverpool Echo on 30^th July 1917, under the heading, “Lost at Battle of Guillemont”:

“In sad but loving memory of Corporal Stanley F. Collins, killed in action, July 30, 1916.

               We often think of days gone by,

                When we were all together;

              A shadow cast upon our life,

               A dear one gone forever.

          Sadly missed by Lizzie, Edith, Herbert.”

Stanley is commemorated in the Hall of Remembrance at Liverpool Town Hall at Panel 11 Right.

Military records have been found for a number of his brothers.

Allen also served in the Royal Navy, enlisting in 1909,  and also lied about his age. He served throughout the war.

William served as a Driver with the Royal Field Artillery and survived the war.

George attested in November 1915 in the Royal Garrison Artillery and was mobilised in May 1916. He arrived in Boulogne in September 1916, served on the Western Front, and was demobilised in September 1919.

Miles and Ernest both served in the Coldstream Guards. Ernest was serving as Private 15702 with the 2nd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards when he was killed in action on 15th September 1916 aged 32. Ernest, who left a widow and four young children, now rests in Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Somme where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN TO GIVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY"