Private, JOSEPH WILLIAM COLLINGWOOD, 10/338. Born in July 1896, Joseph was the youngest of four children to Joseph Collingwood (1852-1924) and Margaret Coupland (1855-1933), of 536 Holderness Road, Hull (CWGC address). When he was born, his father, Joseph, was 45 and his mother, Margaret, was 42. He had one brother and three sisters.
One of the original Pals, he enlisted for the new battalion in early September 1914 as those long uneven lines bustled with excitement and the anticipation of war’s great adventure. He trained at Hornsea, Beverley, York and Ripon throughout 1915 and shipped for Egypt that December. After four months of blazing desert sun they were sent to the trenches of the Western Front in March 1916. Joseph fought on the Somme and at Oppy Wood before being seriously wounded and evacuated to a hospital near Bromley in Kent. He died there on 11th July 1918 and was returned home for burial at Hedon Road Cemetery in Hull; he was 21 years old. There would be no comfort in losing their youngest son, but Joseph and Margaret Collingwood at least had a place to mourn. So many families didn’t. The tragedy may not have ended there. Hedon Road Cemetery was severely damaged by the Luftwaffe during the next war, but he is buried with his parents there.
