Colyer, Henry Maxwell (Lieutenant, d.1918)

Papers of and relating to the First World War service of Lieutenant Henry Maxwell Colyer (7th Reinforcements, 36th Battalion) and to his family. They comprise: (i) newsclipping portrait of Colyer and papers concerning his education and marriage; (ii) letters to his wife Eileen and infant son from his transport ship near South Africa (June 1917), and from Fovant and Tidworth, England (August-November 1917), documenting his official duties (largely associated with 9th Training Battalion), tourist and recreational activities and his search for Colyer family members, reflections on the war and the fate of acquaintances, preparations for his deployment to the Armentieres/Le Touquet area of the Western Front, and his strong affection for his wife and child; (iii) official, Red Cross and personal correspondence with his wife concerning the circumstances of his death in action at the village of Hangard, near Villers-Bretonneux on 12 April 1918, and her search for the location of his grave (1918-1922); (iv) papers concerning the history of the Colyer family and other historical printed material.