EAST TRENT CHURCHES
Besthorpe, Clifton, Collingham,
Girton, Harby, Holme, Langford, South Scarle, Thorney, Winthorpe
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EAST TRENT CHURCHES
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Click photos below to enlarge, then . . . Click <-- back button (top left) to return to this page Photographs © by David Collins
This is Captain Woolley's grave marker cross in the position when David first discovered it. It was positioned on the outside South Wall at the Church of St John the Baptist in South Collingham.
This photo shows a close up of the wording on the cross.
This is the cross now transferred to the inside of St John's Church in Collingham.
The
final resting place of Captain Woolley. In the "Templeux Le Guerard"
British Military Cemetery. 'There are' says David, 'many other Newark and area
soldiers who are buried here, who were killed in the same action as Captain
Woolley.' 'All so sad and tragic', he exclaims. THE
CROSS IN St JOHN’S. Have you ever wondered about the wooden cross that is on the wall above the War Memorial in St John’s Church? Let me tell you the sad story that lies behind it. A few years ago when I first came to live in Collingham, I visited the church and outside on the south east wall, I noticed the cross fixed to the wall. I recognised it as a grave-marker cross dating back to the First World War. These
crosses were used in the war to mark the temporary gravesites of soldiers killed
in action usually near the spot where they had been killed. On closer
examination I read the faint but still legible words painted on the cross, they
were as follows --------- Killed In Action My mind was now full of questions, who was Captain Woolley? Where was he killed? In which action did he meet his death? And above all, how did the cross come to be here? The Woolley family is a well known name in the Collingham area going back many years, the memorial inside the church stated that the Captain had lost his life at a place called "Hargicourt", which raised yet another question,------where was Hargicourt? It was at this point that my first course of action was to make a request to our Rector to see if it was possible to remove the cross from the wall and have it placed somewhere inside the Church, because the cross was looking distinctly the worse for wear after being outside for what must have been a good many years. Permission was granted to move the cross to the inside, and with the kind help of David Tingle the cross was placed in its present position. Thomas Hugh Corbett Woolley was born in Lincoln; he was the eldest son of Mr and Mrs R S Woolley of Minster Yard Lincoln, and grandson of Mr T Smith Woolley of Collingham. he was educated at Lancing College. He then became a member of the firm Messrs Smith, Woolley, and Wigram of Collingham, land agents and surveyors. In 1913 he married Violet Jean daughter of Mr W G Tanner of Frenchay, Gloucestershire, they had one daughter and their home was at "The Cottage" here in Collingham. At this time, the Captain as I shall call him, was a member of the 4th Notts: Territorial Army, and on the outbreak of war on August 4th, 1914, he joined the reserve battalion of the Sherwood Foresters, this was the 2/8th. On September 14th, Lieutenant Colonel W Coape Oates was gazetted to the command of the battalion; he was a local man whose home was at Besthorpe. In April of 1915 the battalion received orders to be ready to move to Ireland and in due course they were there for nearly two years serving with distinction during the Irish rebellion in Dublin. February 1917 and the battalion was in France, disembarking at Boulogne, marching South and then in an Easterly direction the battalion reached the vicinity of------------Hargicourt. Hargicourt was a very heavily defended village, being on the left flank of the German line of defences which became known as the Hindenburg Line. It was the chalk quarries there with the waste heaps and higher ground which gave to whoever held them the advantage of observation, and being able to call on artillery fire to check any movement of opposing troops. The objective of the 2/8th battalion was the first of the German trenches which lay near the junction of two roads, one of which led to the quarries. The assault was timed to start on the morning of the 27th. At this point I would like to quote from the book-- History of the 2/8th Battalion in the Great War ---- "The officers of three of the companies met together in a cellar to have a final yarn, and it was noticeable that Captain Woolley was the life and soul of the party, happily discussing what he would do when the war was over in company with his wife and child, to whom he was devoted. Alas! He was the only one amongst those gathered there to make the supreme sacrifice". On the morning of the attack by the British troops, Captain Woolley leading one platoon of "B" Company captured the first switch trench, but the German troops counter-attacked immediately, and Captain Woolley was killed along with several men of the platoon. The area was eventually recaptured by our troops, the Captain's body recovered and buried in the British lines, and the cross placed at the head of the grave. Before I end this sad story, let me quote once more from the Battalion History ---- "The death of Captain Woolley was deeply felt throughout the Battalion. Captain Woolley's name was almost a household name in the 2/8th Battalion, and in the old 4th Notts; which preceded it, as three generations of that family had commanded one of the companies. Captain Woolley was an officer of exceptional ability and boundless energy, his pluck and vitality making up to some extent for a rather frail body and indifferent health" In August of 1996, I made a pilgrimage to the Somme battlefields to see where my father had served with the Army. I walked a short distance along the road from Albert to Bapaume, the same road that my father and thousands of other soldiers had marched along, many never to return,---it was an uncanny feeling-----Was that the sound of marching feet I could hear? the ghosts of those who never returned? Then I travelled the thirty odd miles or so South East to the village of Hargicourt. I went over the ground where I think the Captain met his death, then I went to the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery a few miles along the road at Templeux-Le-Guerard to visit the grave of the Captain. I placed a poppy on his grave, one that I had brought from the Church at Collingham. I felt that I had come to know him as a friend. There you are Eric, this is almost word for word of an article I had published in the "Fleet" of April 1998. I have made one or two slight changes to the original. On a more personal note, I am still deeply moved when I read all this again. especially the part where I refer to my short walk at 'Albert', and the visit to where the Captain is buried. --- Oh the folly and stupidity of war! David.
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This
is David Collins' story of Captain Woolley, one of Collingham's World War I heroes who died
in battle for the love of his country.
