KENNINGTON - Kent Fallen

COLLINS H.W (brother)
Private T/203920 Harry Wyndham COLLINS. 6 th Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment).
Died 20 th November 1917 aged 25 years. Resided Kennington. Son of Emily Collins of Vicarage
Road, Kennington. Harry has no known grave. His name appears on the Cambrai War Memorial,
France. Panel reference 3.
The Ashford Absentee Voters List for 1918 gives –
Vicarage Road, Kennington
Private 8946 Ernest Archibald COLLINS. 7 th Buffs (East Kent Regiment).
Burton Road, Kennington
Private 13554 Austin George COLLINS. The Buffs (East Kent Regiment).
At the beginning of November 1917 the 6 th battalion marched to Frevent. It then proceeded to the
La Vacquerie Sector a few miles outside Cambrai. On the 16 th November the battalion entrained
for Peronne on the southern Somme battlefields. On the 19 th it was assembling near the village of
Gonnelieu four miles to the south of Ribecourt. On the 20 th November 1917 the 6 th battalion was
in action all day at Ribecourt. Fierce hand to hand fighting took place in Lateau Wood and at Pam
Pam Farm. At the end of the day 110 men had been killed or wounded.
GODDEN A
Private G/5099 Albert GODDEN. “A” Company, 8 th Battalion, The Buffs, (East Kent
Regiment). Died 26 th September 1915 aged 29 years. Born Warehorne, Kent. Resided
Kennington. Son of Albert and Mary Ann Godden of Barnfield Farm, Charing. Formerly of
Raywood Farm, Charing. Albert has no known grave. His name appears on the Loos Memorial,
France. Panel reference 15 to 19.
Educated at Kennington School, Kennington, Ashford, Kent. Upon leaving school Albert went to
work at the Golf Links in Kennington (Sandyhurst Lane) where he eventually became the Head
Groundsman. Albert died after being in France for only 3 weeks and 4 days.
The Ashford Absentee Voters List for 1918 gives –
Raywood Farm, Charing
Private 46839 Arthur Ernest GODDEN. Machine Gun Corps.
On the 25 th September 1915 the 8 th battalion marched into Bethune in France from Maninghem
near Etaples. The next day (the day that Albert died) the battalion was at Hulluch not far from
Vermelles. The battalion attacked in strength at 1100 hours. The objective was German third line
reserve trenches and heavily fortified positions East of Hulluch village. The 8 th Buffs attacked
alongside 9 th East Surrey’s, 8 th Queen’s and the 8 th West Kent’s. The battalion was decimated
and casualties amounted to an astonishing 24 officers and 610 men many of whom were killed.
The remnants of the battalion withdrew to Mollinghem the following morning.
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