Martin Collier, born in 1893, was the son of Dr William Collier of  Woodstock Road, Oxford and his wife Anna. After attending Oxford Preparatory School, and the Dragon School, Oxford, he joined the Royal Navy as a Cadet in September 1904 and, after time in the battleships HMS IMPLACABLE and KING EDWARD VII, he joined submarines in October 1913 as a Sub Lieutenant.

In February 1914, as a Lieutenant, he joined HMS B1 as First Lieutenant and subsequently served as First Lieutenant in W2 (May 1915) and J3 (February 1916). His first command appointment was to HMS C13 in August 1916. Collier’s second command was to HMS H10 in March 1917.

H10 sailed on a North Sea patrol in January 1918 and failed to return. It is believed that she was lost in a German minefield on or about 20 January 1918. There were no survivors.

Martin distinguished himself as an athlete. Both at Osborne and Dartmouth he won a reputation in boxing and at Rugby football. Later he played for the Navy, the United Services and the South. In the spring of 1914, in the Army and Navy Boxing Championship Meeting at Portsmouth, he won the championship in the officers’ light heavies.

Martin Collier is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial on Panel 28.  The community recreation ground in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire, gifted to the community in 1922 by his father, is named in his honour.

See also this 1918 article on him from The Skipper’s War