COLLEY, John

John Colley was the son of John and Ann Colley of 31 Summer Street, Kingswinford and he worked in the Brierley Hill office of the Round Oak steel works. He volunteered for the Honourable Artillery Company with two working colleagues and chums, John Gordon of Moor Lane, Brierley Hill, and Norman Price of Fenton Street, Brierley Hill. They served in the 1/1st Battalion which went to the Western Front in 1916 and were originally GHQ troops. They then joined the 2nd Battalion, now infantry. In April and May 1917 they were engaged in the major fighting around Arras and John Colley was killed on the 3rd May during a difficult and costly night attack on the strong Hindenburg Line defences at Bullecourt. A few days later John Gordon was killed in action on the 15th May alongside Private Norman Price when a shell burst in their trench. Private John Colley was 21 years of age and is commemorated on the Arras, and Kingswinford Memorials.