3 brothers in the Lancashire Fusiliers

[dcsnr]

I'm trying to open a chest full of mystery concerning my Grandfather and two of his brothers that served in the Lancashire Fusiliers during WW1.  My father said that Grandfather would never talk about his experiences of the war because his two brothers died but rumour had it that he carried his wounded brother to safety during one battle, but if that was the case, why wasn't he be proud to talk about it?

The three gentlemen in question are Ernest Joseph Collier born 1891, Benjamin Collins Collier born 1882 and William Thomas Collier born 1885, all from Manchester and parents named Joseph and Elizabeth.  Ernest (Pte 9/3527) was wounded and discharged in Mar 1916 - lucky for me or else I wouldn't be here.  I found information about Benjamin on the CWWG site, he belonged to the 1st btn (Pte ser no 4898) and was killed at Gallipoli.  Finding mention of William Thomas has been more awkward.  There is a William Collier on the CWWG site (Pte ser no 3290) that looks like a possibility, it looks like he was wounded at Gallipoli and was transferred to the hospitals in Cairo where he later died.

Has anyone access to military records to expand the above ?

David

[Wendi]

Here is Ernest's Medal card info

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=2038295&queryType=1&resultcount=1

Benjamin's :

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=2038102&queryType=1&resultcount=1

There are several William Colliers, could not see a William T Collier, the one you mentioned (Pte 3290) was in 9th Lancashire Fusiliers

Wendi

[manmack]

dave,the w,collier who died at cairo [No3290] was william collier,born,enlisted and lived in manchester,do you live in manchester,mack

[dcsnr]

Hello mac,

I live in Cheshire but Manchester's not that far away.

David

[manmack]

dave,i just noticed the army numbers,ernests and williams are close togethor,both were 9th batt,i think w.collier 3290 is your man,i will check the newspaper casualty lists for that period,i have a lot of my own but they dont cover that period,ime going to central library on friday,will have a look,most lancs fus appeared in the m/c evening chronicle and many more in the m/c evening news,they have em all at central library,mack

[dcsnr]

Hello again mack,

Thanks very much for the offer of help at Manchester Library.

I've just checked the 'National Roll of the Great War' for Manchester casualties where I found Benjamin (page 79 or screen 84 of 431) but not William.  I have been told that this list was not complete due to the public having to subscribe their entries.

Whilst I was there I found a J.H Collier which may have been the 4th brother James Henry who was born in 1879.  Do you know if there is a way to check this ?  A further coincidence is that the entry reference numbers are consecutive.

Cheers

David

[Wendi]

A FOURTH brother David

Come clean,

How many are we looking for ?

[manmack]

david,was his regt the manchesters,if it was,then hes not your man,hes this bloke
pte james,herbert,sefton collier
24th batt,manchester regt
killed 10-5-17
age 28
33605
son of,samuel+mary collier,100 bank st,clayton
on the arras memorial

[dcsnr]

Hi Wendi,

Apologies if I've got you a little confused.  My Grandfather had 3 brothers in total but my immediate family only talked about grandfathers participation in the war when we come across his medals and mention was made of the two brothers who were killed.  Hence the reason for searching military data for the 3.

The latter of the Colliers I mentioned (James Henry) was the eldest and may have joined up later for maybe family reasons etc., not a lot was known about him.  If the chap mentioned in the 'National Roll' was, who I think he is, then it would tie up nicely because the data stated he joined up in June 1915 which was the month his two brothers died and it may have been the reason for him joining the war.

He only came into the equation when I spotted him after I was given the link to the website.


Hi Mack,

I'm pretty certain that all the brothers would have joined the same unit i.e. the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Cheers,

David