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Australia

Frank Henry Collins was born in April 1899 in Witley, Surrey, England…the eldest of 4 children born to his parents Lewis and Annie Collins.  In May 1913 Lewis came out to Australia by himself and arrived in Fremantle WA where he found work as a railway fettler.  He found a home for the family to live in so Annie and the 4 children joined him in October 1913…Frank 15, Freddie 14, Cyril 6 and Muriel 2.  However, for whatever reason, by 1915 Annie and the 2 youngest children had returned to England while Lewis remained in Fremantle with Frank and Freddie.  By August 1915 Frank was working as a station hand near Geraldton and Freddie was working as a farm hand near Moora, 250kms south of Geraldton.  In September 1915 they both did something that would change the direction of their lives forever. 

Freddie sent a telegram from the post office at Moora to his mother in England which contained 3 words…“Can I enlist?”.  Her reply was even shorter…”Yes.”  Freddie made his way to Perth and enlisted at Blackboy Hill Army Camp on 11th September 1915 aged 15 but seeing as he was under age to enlist, he gave his age as 18.  Frank enlisted at the recruiting office in Geraldton on 8th September 1915 aged 16 but gave his age as 21.  He then made his way to Blackboy Hill Camp to join Freddie.  They were assigned to different units…Frank with the 16th Battalion 12th Reinforcements and Freddie with the 11th Battalion 13th Reinforcements.  With his 2 sons having enlisted and the rest of his family back in England, Lewis enlisted on 9.11.1915 at Perth aged 39.  He was assigned to Frank’s battalion, the 16th but to the 15th Reinforcements.  The paths of all 3 would converge on the Somme at Pozieres in July 1916.  Their stories are intertwined so this biography is the story of all 3…a father and his 2 young sons who went to serve their King and country in war but not all would survive the war…2 would make the supreme sacrifice. 

Frank is described as being 5ft 4ins tall with a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair.  His service number was 3870 and his rank Private.  Frank embarked from Fremantle on 22nd December 1915 on HMAT Ajana and disembarked at Suez, Egypt, on 7th March 1916.  He proceeded to Tel-el-Kebir where he underwent further training before embarking for France with the 16th Battalion from Alexandria on HMT Canada on 1st June 1916.  They disembarked at Marseilles on 9th June 1915 and made their way north by train.  By early July 1916 they were at Canteen Farm Bois Grenier just south of Armentieres near the Belgian border.  The Battle of Pozieres commenced on 23rd July and the battalion was on its way to take part in this.  On the 25th July they arrived at Naours, 40klms west of Pozieres.  Unbeknown to Frank, that day his brother Freddie went missing during the Battle of Pozieres.  Confusion reigned for quite some time as to what really happened to him.  No one actually witnessed his death and his body was not recovered.  However, after a long investigation it was finally determined in June 1918 that he was killed in action on the 25th July 1916.  He was aged 16.  Frank’s father Lewis was at Berteaucourt, 60klms west of Pozieres and he too was marching towards Pozieres to join his unit, the 48th Battalion. 

Frank and the 16th Battalion continued their trek towards Pozieres via Brickfields near Albert and then to Tara Gully just outside Pozieres.  They moved up to the frontline in Wire Trench on 9th August and at midnight the attack on Circular Trench commenced.  The Germans shelled their position mercilessly and continuously throughout the 10th and by the end of the day Frank became the victim of shell shock.  He was admitted to the 7th Field Ambulance suffering the symptoms of shell shock which include tremor, confusion, nightmares, impaired vision and hearing and fatigue.  He was transferred to the 44th Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) 3 days later then proceeded by ambulance train to the 1st Convalescent Depot at Boulogne.  He was there for 4 days then proceeded to the Australian General Base Depot (AGBD) at Etaples.  While based there he was father Lewis was seriously wounded at Pozieres on 31st August when a shell exploded beside him.  That left him with a compound fracture of the right elbow and having to have his right leg amputated at the knee before being evacuated to England.  Frank re-joined his unit at Spoil Bank, Ypres, Belgium on 29th September 1916.  At some point Frank would have the news of Freddie’s death and his father’s wounding.

In late March 1917 Frank was admitted to the 4th Field Ambulance with a bunion and stiff toe (hallux valgus) and was transferred 4 days later to the 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station (ACCS).  He then proceeded by ambulance train to the 2nd Convalescent Depot at Rouen and a fortnight later was transferred to the 11th Convalescent Depot at Buchy.  In late June 1917 he proceeded to the AGBD at Le Havre then re-joined his unit at Vieux Berquin in late July 1917.  From July to October Frank saw plenty of action with the 16th Battalion who took part in several major battles…the 3rd Battle of Ypres, Menin Road, Polygon Wood and Passchendaele.  Captain C Longmore, the historian for the 16th Battalion, describes the scene at Menin Road in September 1917: “The ground which the 16th Battalion occupied near Zonnebeke defied description.  It had been fought over for years and every yard of it was churned up by shellfire.  The area was ordinarily marshy.  Now, with every shell hole full of stagnant water, barbed wire plentifully strewn around, broken vehicles and guns, dead horses and dead men, it was a forbidding waste indeed.”

The battalion moved to Lisbourg then in late November Frank took leave for 2 weeks.  He re-joined his unit at Moislains.  A month later the battalion moved to Templeux-la-Fosse, north-east of Peronne where they celebrated Christmas and New Year.  It was while he was here that he would have received the news that his father Lewis had died on 26th January 1918 at the 8th Australian General Hospital in Fremantle WA.  He had been invalided to Australia for further treatment of his wounds on 1st November 1917 and during the operation collapsed under the chloroform anaesthetic and died on the table.  He was 41.  So Pozieres had claimed its second victim from this family.  However, amongst all this sadness a joyous event took place.  One night while Lewis was a patient at the 2nd Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Southall UK in early 1917, he went AWOL from 9pm to 9am and it would seem that he spent that time with his wife Annie which 9 months later resulted in the birth of their 5th child Lewis. 

In late February 1918 Frank transferred to Australian Army Service Corps (AASC) after he’d committed several offences.  These offences all date from after his shell shock and the death of his brother.  Prior to that he had an exemplary record.  He reported to the headquarters at Bhurtpore Barracks at Tidworth then proceeded to the Army Service Corps (ASC) Training Depot No. 4 at Parkhouse Camp with the rank of Driver. 

On 27th December 1918 Frank married Ivy May Collins, his childhood sweetheart from Witley, at Godalming in Surrey UK. 

On the 1st January 1919 Frank was promoted to Lance Corporal but 2 months later he was demoted to the rank od Driver for insubordination.  This would have been after receiving the news of the death of his father.  Frank, with his wife Ivy, embarked from England for Australia on 21st June 1919 on SS Koningin Louise and disembarked at Fremantle on 3rd August 1919.  He was discharged from the service on 25th September 1919. 

In less than 7 weeks in the fighting at Pozières and Mouquet Farm 3 Australian divisions suffered 23,000 casualties.  Of these, 6,800 men were killed or died of wounds.  It was a loss comparable with the casualties sustained by the Australians over eight months at Gallipoli in 1915.  Frank’s father and brother were 2 of these casualties and in his own way, Frank was too…he wasn’t killed but he was damaged in that he was never the same again. 

Frank’s mother Annie returned to live in Perth WA in January 1920 bringing the 3 youngest children with her.  Frank and Ivy welcomed 2 children…Marion and Ronnie and by 1927 they were living at Balingup, 230klms south of Perth. 

Frank passed away in the repatriation ward of Perth Hospital on 6th August 1927 aged 28.  He was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth WA.  

Frank Henry Collins was awarded for service in WW1 the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.   

Respectfully submitted by Sue Smith 3rd October 2023.

Sources

The Lost Boys by Paul Byrnes (Book)