Collings-Wells Page 5

The text on this page is as included in the book REMEMBERED, the book dedicated to the WWI dead commemorated on the Marple War Memorial. The picture of John's parents was not received until after the book had gone to print, so sadly could not be included. This is how the page should have looked.:-

132

Fittingly, the last word comes from King George V who in message to the Collings-Wells family on the 3^rd May 1918 says:

"It is a matter of sincere regret to me that the death of Captain (Acting Lieutenant-Colonel) John Stanhope Collings-Wells DSO, 4^th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, deprived me of the pride of personally conferring upon him the Victoria Cross, the greatest of all awards for valour and devotion to duty.

George RI"

John's parents after receiving his VC from King George V
John's parents after receiving his VC from King George V

As an interesting post script to the Collings-Wells saga the following letter was addressed to The Times (date unknown) by Mr G. Martin.

3 Zetland Place
Trinity, Edinburgh

Dear Sir,

When serving as a junior commissioned officer in the 4^th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment (then attached to the 63^rd Division) in France during 1916 I was invalided from the trenches and sent to the nearest base, where I underwent medical treatment until fit again for active service. Before leaving my battalion in 1916, and at the special request of one of our then Captains, I gave him my map case, bearing my own name stamped thereon, having no further need for it. I thought no more of the matter until about a couple of years ago, when I received a communication from the Imperial War Graves Commission, returning the same map case, battered and mud-stained almost beyond all recognition. They informed me that it had been found with the remains of an officer in the Bedfordshire Regiment, identified as such by the tunic buttons, who, it was thought, had fallen early in 1918. I immediately identified the map case as the one I had formerly given to Captain Collings-Wells, of my own battalion, when I left them in 1916, and informed the Imperial War Graves Commission to that effect. This officers relatives were inclined to accept this evidence, after consultation with the authorities at the Imperial War Graves Commission, and a memorial cross is now being erected at Bouzincourt Ridge Cemetery, near Albert, to Lieutenant-Colonel J.S. Collings-Wells V.C D.S.O., etc.

Yours faithfully,
"G. Martin"