Coller, Ernest

Age: 21
Date of birth: Q2 1918

Parents: James and Clara Evalina Coller nee Ball
Wife: Christina Coller of 43 Ascot Street, Liverpool
Address: 97 Friars Street Warwick.

Occupation: Career soldier

Ernest was born in Warwick during the second quarter of 1918. He attended Westgate School. His father James (1860-1947) was a general labourer.

The 1939 Register, shows details of three of Ernest’s siblings – brothers Edward (born 1914) and Dennis (born 1926) and sister Ruth (born 1917), whose married name was White. We also know he had another brother, Thomas John (born 1920) as he also died in the war and is listed on the Warwick War Memorial

The Warwick Advertiser piece about the Collers’ father, John, shows that there were 19 Coller children in all, although only 8 had survived at the time the piece was written.

Ernest’s mother Clara died in 1976 aged 94.

Military Service

Rank & Number: Corporal, 5108883
Regiment/Service: Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Brigade/Division: 144th Infantry Brigade, 48th (South Midland) Division
Date of death: 21st May 1940
Cause of death/Battle: Killed in action near Dunkirk whilst driving a Bren Gun Carrier
Commemorated/Buried: Buried in Hollain Churchyard, Brunehaut, Belgium. Row E. Grave 2.
Awards:
Commemorated locally at: St Paul's Church

Ernest enlisted as a boy soldier at fifteen years of age. His younger brother, Thomas John, also died in WW2. Ernest is buried  in Hollain Churchyard, Brunehaut, Belgium

Contributors

  • Unlocking Warwick Research Group
  • Warwick Advertiser excerpts courtesy of Warwickshire County Record Office

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