William Kirby and Brenda McMahon have submitted the following:-
William Colledge, the son of James and Jane Ann, was born in Easington Lane in 1893. The couple had married at Chester-le-Street in 1892 and went on to have 8 children although sadly 1 died.
He had several siblings, two brothers and four sisters and was living with his family in Easington Lane, working as a coal miner, when he enlisted at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 9 December 1915 and was put on the Army Reserve. On 18 March 1916 he married Mary Elizabeth Ritson at Houghton-le-Spring and they had two children, James born 21st February 1917 and Edna. Unfortunately, Edna, who was born on September 4th 1918, died at only 4 months old on January 21st 1919 of the condition tabes mesenterica. The condition is a form of T.B. sometimes passed on to infants by cow’s milk.
William’s medical records show him to be 5’2” tall. He had black hair, a sallow complexion and a tattoo of a lady on his right foreman.
On 17th May 1918 William was mobilised and posted to the 6th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (DLI) at Sutton on the Hill in Derbyshire. He landed in France on 14 September 1918. A few days later was transferred to the 9th Battalion DLI. He served in Germany in the Army of Occupation where he contracted a liver disease in 1919 and died of yellow atrophy of the liver on 6 October at a casualty clearing station in Germany. He was buried in Cologne Southern Cemetery.
William’s personal items were returned to widow - Postcards, cigarette case, penknife, envelopes, tobacco pouch, match box case, note book, shaving soap, wallet, brush, two razors, belt, one handkerchief, pipe (broken), book of views, red cross amulet, and German money.
Medals -British War Medal and Victory Medal
William Colledge is not remembered at Easington Lane or in the DLI Book of Remembrance.
