Pte 48421 Morris Collock

• Age: 20
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 23rd June 1917
• Commemorated at: Menin Gate Memorial
  Panel Ref: Panel 4 & 6

Morris was born in the March quarter of 1897 in Liverpool the son of Abraham Collock and his wife Esther (nee Polotski). His birth was registered as Morris Kollak.  
His father, Abraham, was born in Grodna, Russia in 1865 and his mother, Esther, in Poland in about 1868.  They married in about 1885 and their first two children, Isaac and Hyman, were born in Russia. His parents immigrated to England in about 1892 and they settled in Liverpool, where Louis, Sarah, Morris, Harris, Max, Leah, Janie, and Pearl were born.
His father was a tailor by trade.

In 1901 the family is living at 68 Iron Bridge, Abercromby, Liverpool, with seven children.  His father 37, is a tailor/employer working at home, Morris is 4. Also in the household is his aunt Sarah Polotski, 20, born in Russia.

The 1911 Census shows the family at 16 Clarence Street, off Brownlow Hill, with ten children aged between 2 to 24.  Abraham the father is aged 45, and Esther his wife is 43.  Isaac 24, Hyman, 21, and Louis, 18, are tailors, like their father.  Sarah is 16, Morris 14, Harris 12, Max 10, Leah 8, Janie 6 and Pearl 2.  His parents have been married 25 years and all 10 of their children have survived.

The 1914 Gores Directory shows Abraham, as a  tailor, at 16 Clarence Street.

Morris enlisted in Liverpool as Private 48421, 18th (Pals) Battalion of The. King’s Liverpool Regiment. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served for about a year, enlisting or being conscripted in the summer of 1916.  At some point he was transferred to the 19th Battalion of the. K.L.R.

Morris was serving with the 19th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment when he was killed in action on 23rd June 1917, aged 20. He has no known grave and his name is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, Belgium. 

The 19th Battalion diary records the details of his loss:

"At night practically all of the Battalion were out on a working party, digging an assembly Trench and suffered casualties 7 other ranks killed, 13 other ranks wounded and 1 other rank missing"

It is highly likely that Morris was the other rank declared as Missing as the other seven casualties are named as:

George Ashbrook, Norman Garside, Andrew Harron, Harold Hart, Harold Mathison, Frederick Owen and Joseph Spencer.

He had previously been reported as wounded in the press on 11th May 1917.

His father Abraham Kollock (sic) received Morris’ Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £3.

The Liverpool Echo of 13th August 1917 carrirdcan advertisement for Abraham's business:

TAILORING - Vests  Felling Hands immediately, Mr Collock 16 Clarence St.

Maurice's brother Louis enlisted in November 1915 in the 22nd (Reserve) Battalion K.L.R.,he later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and served on the Western Front.  He was wounded in action in July 1917, gassed in 1918, and demobbed in January 1919.

Brother Harris Collock served as 37799 King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.

His eldest brother Isaac had emigrated to the United States in 1914, followed by Max in November 1917  Louis and Sarah also emigrated.

In 1922 Abraham and Esther, aged 58 and 56, sailed to New York. The 1925 N.Y. census finds them, with Max, Leah, Jennie, and Pearl, in Brooklyn, where his father continued to work as a tailor.  Hyman and Harris remained in Liverpool.
 
His parents died in Brooklyn, his mother in 1936, and his father in 1937, aged 74.

Morris is commemorated on the British Jewry Roll of Honour. 

We currently have no further information on Morris Collock, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.