Edwin William Collins. Photo with kind permission of Emilia Alchin.
E. W. Collins
Service no. 479594
Private, London Regiment, 1st/24th Battalion
Then Labour Corps, transf. to (720746) 798th Area Emp. Coy. attd. Emp. S.B. Unit.
Died age 26 on 2 August 1918
Son of Edwin Collins, of 18 Elwell Road, Clapham
Remembered at Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, Pas de Calais, France
British Army Service Records 1914-1920
Edwin Collins joined up on 5 September 1914 and survived nearly to the end. He was admitted to 2 Can. General Hospital in Boulogne on 1 August with multiple bomb blast injuries including a factured skull. His condition was “dangerous,” says the record. He died the following day.
Edwin was unusually tall – 5 feet 11 inches – although not very broad. His chest measured only 37 inches with 2 inches expansion. His physical development was “good”.
His final effects were sent on to his father, who was also called Edwin: pouch, purse, ring, testament, 2 leather cases, 2 numerals, cards, photos, letters, 2 French books, 3 religious books, 4 coins, disc.
Edwin was one of six children – 5 girls and a boy. His father, also called Edwin, lost his wife Frances in 1898 but remarried in about 1899.
Information from the 1911 census
Edwin William Collins was 19 in 1911, working as a railway porter, and living with his father, stepmother and sister in 6 rooms at 18 Elwell Road, Clapham (now disappeared). Edwin Collins, 61, was a retired policeman working as a “check-taker” at a theatre. He was born in Brenchley, Kent. His wife, Louisa, 53, to whom he had been married for 12 years was from Old Southgate (north London). Frances Maud Collins, 24, was a restaurant waitress. Like her brother she was born in Clapham.