Private William Collin was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Collin. He was born at 89, Wellyhole street, Leesfield, Oldham on the 28th July, 1893 and was baptised at St. Thomas, Lees, on the 8th September, 1893. His father died in 1896 and his mother made the move to Ryhill in Yorkshire. .
William became a coalminer and, in February 1915, enlisted in the K.O.Y.L.I. He was went to France on June 10th, 1915 and was posted missing at Loos on the 1st October, 1915. His body was not recovered and he was presumed dead one year later.

Transcript of newspaper clipping above:
"RYHILL SOLDIER'S DEATH A YEAR AGO
Mrs. Hallam, of Brunswick, Ryhill, has just received official intimation that her son, William Collin, of the K.O.Y.L.I. was killed in action on October of last year. Nearly a year ago, Mrs. Hallam received official notification that her son was wounded and missing on this date. Deceased, who was 23 years of age, worked at the Ryhill Main Colliery prior to enlisting in February 1915."

"The Loos Memorial commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave, who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay, from the first day of the Battle of Loos to the end of the war. On either side of the cemetery is a wall 15 feet high, to which are fixed tablets on which are carved the names of those commemorated. At the back are four small circular courts, open to the sky, in which the lines of tablets are continued, and between these courts are three semicircular walls or apses, two of which carry tablets, while on the centre apse is erected the Cross of Sacrifice."
© CWGC

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Photo & information contributed by : Glyn Collin