l/cpl Frank Tylor COLLINS,Sussex Reg't d.31/3/17

[christine liava'a]

Remembering Today:

L/Cpl Frank Tylor COLLINS, 200220 1/4 Bn, Royal Sussex Regt, who died on 31.03.17. Deir el Belah War Cemetery, Israel

Name: COLLINS, FRANK TYLOR

Initials: F T

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Lance Corporal

Regiment: Royal Sussex Regiment

Unit Text: 1st/4th Bn.

Date of Death: 31/03/1917

Service No: 200220

Additional information: Son of Mr. F. T. and Mrs. A. Collins, of 5, King St., Worthing.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: D. 6.

Cemetery: DEIR EL BELAH WAR CEMETERY

Location Information: Deir El Belah is in Palestine about 16 kilometres east of the Egyptian border, and 20 kilometres south-west of Gaza. To reach the cemetery, travel along main road number 4 and the entrance is to be found down a sand track just before a junction. Look out for a sign over the road on the right of the junction.

Historical Information: On 28 February 1917, the cavalry of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force entered Khan Yunus, midway between the Egyptian border and Deir el Belah causing the Turks to withdraw to Gaza and Beersheba. The railway was pushed forward to Deir el Belah, which became the railhead in April 1917, and an aerodrome and camps were established there. The cemetery was begun towards the end of March and remained in use until March 1919. Most of the burials were made either from field ambulances from March to June 1917, or from the 53rd, 54th, 66th and 74th Casualty Clearing Stations, and the 69th General Hospital, from April 1917 until the Armistice with Turkey. A number of graves, the majority of which were originally at Khan Yunus, were brought into the cemetery after the Armistice. The cemetery contains 724 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. There are also ten war graves of other nationalities

[Guest Pete Wood]

Frank Taylor Collins is listed in SDGW as:

Born and resided in Worthing.

His number is shown as TF/200220

He is shown as Died of Wounds.

This is a case for Paul Reed, me thinks.

[Guest Pete Wood]

I think I've found our chap in the 1901 census, when he was 5 years old. His father was a house decorator.

That would have made Frank around 22 years old when he died.

[Paul Reed]

I'll check him out in my files when I get home later; I suspect he was probably part of the Worthing Company of this battalion.

There is some info on 1/4th Bn on my website at:

http://www.battlefields1418.50megs.com/1_4...ex_regiment.htm

[michaeldr]

Died of wounds on 31 March 1917; this suggests that L/Cpl Collins may have been involved in the First Battle of Gaza, 26-27 March ‘17

At that time Gaza was one of the largest towns in Palestine and it suffered heavy destruction during the various battles. Below is a photograph taken by the Bavarian squadron a year later, on 28 May 1918 at 12:30 hrs from a height of 4,500 m. [bayerisches Hauptstaatarchiv, Munich, Abt. IV: Kriegesarchiv]

The top left-hand corner of the picture is North

[Paul Reed]

Seems he was indeed an original Worthing Company man - serving in H Company. He enlisted on 16th April 1913, Regimental No 1674, and moved into A Company in 1914, when the old eight company system was abandoned. He served at Suvla Bay from August 1915, then in Egypt and Palestine from 1916.

It does also seem likely he was wounded in the fighting at Gaze on 26th March 1917, when casualties were very heavy for the 1/4th; they lost their commanding officer Lt-Col H.S.Ashworth, killed in action.

I will see if I have any more.