William Henry COLBORN – Charfield

741 Private William Henry COLBORN

1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment

Died aged 26 as a prisoner of war 23 December 1914

No known grave – commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial, France

William Colborn was born in Charfield in 1888, the eldest of nine children born to George and Hannah Colborn of Station View, Charfield.

In the 1911 Census he is shown as being a ‘general labourer’ and given his low Army number and the fact that he served with the 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire regiment, he may well have had some military experience prior to the start of the Great War.

Unfortunately, no Army Service record has survived by his Medal Index Card does show that he first landed in France on 11 September 1914, which was about a month after the 1st Glosters were first deployed there, as part of the British Expeditionary Force.

He would have joined the 1st Glosters just as the tide was turning in favour of the British and French forces, following the long retreat from Mons to the River Marne. 

Pte Colborn was reported as ‘wounded and missing’ in the War Office Casualty List published in newspapers, such as the Gloucester Journal, in March 1915. 

However, it would appear that he was taken prisoner, probably whilst fighting was taking place in the area between Bethune and Armentieres and possibly died of wounds shortly after, as the records of the International Committee for the Red Cross do not contain evidence of incarceration in any prisoner of war camp. It must have been established that he died on 23 December 1914, aged 26 and was probably buried locally by the Germans and his grave was subsequently lost, hence his name being recorded on the Le Touret Memorial to the Missing.

Thanks to Alexis Threlfall and Helen Date for the research and images.