Pte 59569 Arthur Colville

Arthur was born in Liverpool on 31st July 1895, the son of Robert Colville and his wife Sarah Ellen (née Cusworth). His father Robert was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland in 1838, and had been widowed with three daughters in 1875, one of whom had died in 1885.   His mother Sarah was born in Liverpool; her birthdate is inconsistent on records. They married in 1895.  Arthur was the eldest of four children; he had siblings Robert, born in Liverpool, and Elizabeth Alice (called Lily), and William, both born in Litherland.

 

Arthur was baptised in a private baptism arranged by his half sister Clara on 03rd August, and in a public ceremony in Emmanuel, Everton, on 21st August, his parents’ residence given as 3 Kensington, and his father’s occupation as joiner.

 

In 1901 the children are living at 56 Greenfield Lane, Litherland, with their mother Sarah, 31.  Arthur is 5 and Robert 3. His father is a boarder in Toxteth Park with married daughter Clara (from his previous marriage).

 

The 1911 Census finds the family at 68 Greenfield Lane. His father is 72, a retired school caretaker, his mother is 43, Arthur is 15, a butcher’s errand boy, Robert is 13, Lily is 9, and William 7.

 

His father died in April 1916, aged 77.

 

Just four months later his brother Robert, serving as Private 5144 in 1st/7th K.L.R., was killed in action on 09th August 1916, aged 18. 

 

Robert is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. 

 

Arthur enlisted in Liverpool joining the 20^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 59569

 

It is not known when Arthur left for the front. 

On 1st January 1918 the 20th Bn K.L.R. occupied TORR TOP TUNNELS at Zillebeke in the Ypres Salient.  On the 3rd they relieved the 17th Bn at Centre Sub-sector of Polderhoek Sector, disposition: Left front C Coy, Right front A Coy, Support D Coy, Reserve B Coy.  The War Diary shows - Patrols.  Enemy wire on right of MENIN ROAD patrolled.  Enemy trench shown by aeroplane photographs reconnoitred and found to be unoccupied.   The War Diary records no Casualties on this date.

 

However, CWGC shows two deaths on 3rd January, 1918:  Privates 57575 Harry Suttie (accidental death) and 59569 Arthur Colville.

CWGC records show that Arthur was killed in action on the 03rd January 1918, aged 22. He, like his brother Robert, has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium. 

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

Arthur was reported killed in the Liverpool Daily Post on 12th February 1918. 

His mother Sarah received Arthur’s Army effects, and a War Gratuity of £3 for each of her sons. The pension card for both sons shows Sarah at 47 Greenfield Lane, Litherland, but gives no amount.