COLLINS Charles

The following information has been researched by Geoff Hill:
1911 Census
28 Melbourne Street
Charles Collins, aged 23, coach painter (carriages horses)
At the same address: Thomas Henry (father), railway shunter pensioner, mother, 1 brother and 1 sister.

Charles Collins entered active service overseas in the Balkans Theatre of War on 10th September 1915. After withdrawal from Gallipoli at the end of 1915, the 9th Battalion moved to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) where (reportedly) “the battalion had seen no fighting of any importance during the summer and autumn of 1916”. In which case, seemingly, Charles Collins was not a casualty of any major action in this vicinity.

Until 1997 the Basra Memorial was located on the main quay of the naval dockyard at Maqil, on the west bank of the Shatt-al-Arab, about 8 kilometres north of Basra. Because of the sensitivity of the site, the Memorial was moved by presidential decree. The move, carried out by the authorities in Iraq, involved a considerable amount of manpower, transport costs and sheer engineering on their part, and the Memorial has been re-erected in its entirety. The Basra Memorial is now located 32 kilometres along the road to Nasiriyah, in the middle of what was a major battleground during the first Gulf War.