Rank: Private 201194 Regiment: 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment Parish: Beer
William Robert Collier was one of the two sons of Thomas Collier, a gardener, and his wife Elizabeth. Like his father, William was born in Beer, but his mother was born in Honiton. At the time of the 1911 census the family lived at 10 Clapps Lane, Beer.
William joined the Devonshire Regiment and went on active service overseas, while his entry in the 1919 Absent Voters’ List shows that he was in the 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment. This battalion spent most of the war in France, but from late 1917 until April 1918 it served in northern Italy, fighting against the Austrians.
William’s medal index card shows that he must have gone on active service at some point after the beginning of 1916, at which time his battalion was in France. It took part in the Battle of the Somme, and in 1917 was moved to the Ypres salient in Belgium. In December 1917 they moved to Italy, and returned to France in April 1918, where they remained for the rest of the war.
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