PRIVATE WILLIAM CHARLES COLLINS
COLDSTREAM GUARDS
27TH JULY 1916 AGE 28
BURIED: ESSEX FARM CEMETERY, BELGIUM
Private William Collins' inscription is the first line of what was at one time an extremely well known poem by Charles Wolfe, 'The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corruna' . In 1809, during the Peninsular War, Moore won a famous defensive victory over the Napoleonic General Sarrazin, but died of wounds before the end of the day.
Wolfe's poem, written in 1816, was much anthologised throughout the nineteenth century. In 1861 it was included in Palgrave's Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language. In 1907 a new edition, with additional poems, was published and this edition was reprinted every year for the next ten years. In fact, it was reprinted twice in 1916, 1917, 1919 and 1920, and three times in 1918.
Moore was buried hurriedly, with no ceremony, at the end of the battle. His grave was dug by his men with their bayonets and his body was wrapped in his cloak since there was no coffin. It was a real soldiers' death.
Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
Oe'r the grave where our Hero we buried.
...
Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone -
But we left him alone with his glory.
[The first and last verses of this eight-verse poem]
Private William Collins was killed in action in Flanders, a month before the battalion transferred to the Somme in preparation for the Guards' attack at Lesboeufs on 15 September.