Royal Flying Corps
James Glendenning Collins was born in March 1892 to Arthur and his wife, Agnes Glendinning (Collins). His father, Arthur, was a furnishing contractor and at the time he was born, the family lived at 8 Parliament Street, Gloucester but later moved to 90, London Road, Gloucester.
James joined King’s School, Gloucester, as a chorister in January 1902 (aged 10) and certainly remained there until at least 1907, which is the last date the school has a record of him as a pupil (leaving dates are not always shown in the register). He was a contemporary of Ivor Gurney. After school he became apprenticed for three years to the County Analyst as a pupil analytical chemist and was working there in 1911 as shown by that year’s census. His father died in May 1911. On 11 November 1911 he left the UK from Portsmouth on board the SS Arawa, travelling Second Class, bound for New Zealand. It is assumed that he completed his apprenticeship (as he states this on his later attestation papers) and thus we can assume that he started the apprenticeship in 1908 aged 16. Whilst in New Zealand he lived at Raffles Street, Napier and although his trade there is not known, he stated on his attestation papers that he was a ‘business manager’, presumably the job he had in New Zealand rather than one after his return to the UK. He certainly remained in New Zealand until at least 1912 (as he is shown there on a 1912 register of King’s School Old Boys) and it is presumed he returned home specifically to enlist.
His original attestation papers show him enlisting in Birmingham in the 13th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 22 September 1914, his address at that time being 270 Edward Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham. He was given the service number 1052 and it appears from his service record that he commenced initial training with the 3rd Battalion. Within a month, however, he had transferred to the Royal Flying Corps Military Wing and was appointed as an Air Mechanic Grade II on 28 October 1914, service number 1942. After basic training at the Recruits Depot at Farnborough he was appointed Air Mechanic Grade I on 1 April 1915.
From there he would probably have continued into further trade training or been appointed to a unit. However, he was hospitalised at Aldershot Isolation Hospital later that month (exact date unknown) with measles and died there on 21 April 1915. His death certificate gives the cause of death as measles and syncope (unconsciousness through the heart being affected by measles) and gives his address as Fromehurst, Frome Park Road, Stroud. The hospital where he died will almost certainly be Thornhill Military Isolation Hospital at Aldershot.
His body was taken to Gloucester where it was met by an escort from the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and he was buried with military honours in Gloucester Old Cemetery, where a CWGC headstone now marks his grave.
Taken from ‘The King’s Men: Fallen in the Great War – The King’s School, Gloucester’ by Robert Brunsdon. First published 2014.