Frederick Henry Douglas Collier, born on 18th August 1893 was baptised at Boldmere Parish Church and confirmed at Holy Trinity Church, Sutton Coldfield. He was admitted to King Edward’s School in 1904, a contemporary of JRR Tolkein. Because he left after a short time in 1905, he hardly appears in the School records. However, the School Lists of 1905 reveal that he was among the best in his class at drawing. His father Frederick was a druggist and dry salter (a trader in salts, chemicals and dyes), living in the north of the city with Edith Rosetta, his mother, and two younger sisters and four brothers, none of whom entered the School. At the time of the Census of 1911, he was working as an accountant’s clerk.
In 1915 Frederick enlisted as a private in the 1st Birmingham Pals Battalion (14th Royal Warwickshire Regiment). He was wounded on the Somme on July 22nd 1916 and had only been back on duty a short while before he lost his life on April 11th 1917, aged twenty-three. He is buried in Fampoux British Cemetery, Arras.