No photograph of the last resting-place of Private Collins is yet available.
Private William Joseph Collins (Regimental Number 82) is interred in Alexandria
(Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt.
His occupation prior to military service recorded as that of a
wharf labourer working for $9.50 per week, William Joseph
Collins likely presented himself for medical examination at the
Church Lads Brigade Armoury in St. John’s before the end of
August of 1914. He then enlisted – engaged at the private
soldier’s rate of $1.10 per diem – on September 2. He was a
recruit of the First Draft.
Attesting one month later again, on October 2, Private Collins then embarked on the
following day, October 3, onto the Bowring Brothers’ vessel Florizel (right above –
courtesy of Admiralty House Museum). On the morrow the ship sailed from St. John’s to
its rendezvous off the south coast with the convoy carrying the 1st Canadian Division
overseas to the United Kingdom. There the Newfoundlanders finally landed, on October
19*, in the English south-coast naval port of Plymouth.
*Florizel had arrived with the Canadian convoy in Plymouth on October 14, only for the
Newfoundlanders – apart from some officers – to sit on board ship for some five days.
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In the United Kingdom Private Collins
trained with the Battalion: firstly in
southern England on the Salisbury
Plain; then in Scotland at Fort George
(right); at Edinburgh Castle; and for
three months at Stobs Camp near the
Scottish town of Hawick.
(Far right above: The Newfoundland Regiment parades at Stobs Camp and is presented
with its Colours on June 10, 1915. – courtesy of Reverend Wilson Tibbo and Mrs. Lillian
Tibbo)
At the beginning of August, Private Collins was transferred with the four senior
Companies, ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’, to southern England, to Aldershot, for some two weeks of
final training and a royal inspection in preparation for active service at the eastern end of
the Mediterranean Sea, at Gallipoli.
‘E’ and ‘F’ Companies, the last arrivals, were instead sent to the new Regimental Depot in
the Scottish Royal Borough of Ayr. There they were to form the nucleus of the newlyformed 2nd (Reserve) Battalion.
It was during this short period at Aldershot that those who
were to embark for the Middle East were prevailed upon to reenlist, on this occasion for the… duration of the war*. While in
Private Collins’ instance the precise date appears not to be
recorded, in most cases it was on or about August 13-14.
*At the outset of the War, perhaps because it was felt by the
authorities that it would be a conflict of short duration, the
recruits enlisted for only a single year. As the War progressed,
however, this was obviously going to cause problems and the
men were encouraged to re-enlist.
On August 20, 1915, Private Collins took ship on board the
requisitioned passenger liner Megantic (right above) for
passage to the Middle East and to the fighting in Gallipoli
where, a month later – of which two weeks had been spent
billeted at the British barracks at Abbassia, near the Egyptian
capital, Cairo - on September 20, 1st Battalion landed on the
beach at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
(Right above: ‘Kangaroo Beach’, where the men of 1st Battalion landed on the night of
September 19-20, 1915, is in the distance at the far end of Suvla Bay. The remains of a
landing-craft are still clearly visible in the foreground on ‘A’ Beach. – photograph from
2011)
(continued)
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(Right: Newfoundland troops on board a troop-ship anchored
at Mudros, either Megantic on August 29, Ausonia on
September 18, or Prince Abbas on September 19 – Whichever
the case, they were yet to land on Gallipoli. – from Provincial
Archives)
(Right: a century later, the area, little changed from those faroff days, of the Newfoundland positions at Suvla, and where
Private Collins served during the early fall of 1915 –
photograph from 2011)
A bare three weeks after having set foot on Kangaroo Beach,
on October 10, Private Collins was evacuated from Suvla and
placed on board His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Neuralia. There
he was diagnosed as inflicted with dysentery.
(Right: This is Kangaroo Beach, at the far end where the sand
becomes rock. The caption says that they are evacuating sick
and wounded onto those landing-craft - the antenna-like
protuberances allowed for the ramp to be lifted and lowered.
They also helped give the vessels their nickname: Beetles. –
from The Fighting Newfoundlander)
On the 16th Neuralia docked in the British naval base in the
Egyptian city of Alexandria. From the harbour, Private Collins
was transferred to and admitted into the 19th General Hospital.
(Right: The photograph of HMHS Neuralia is from the Old Ship
Picture Galleries Web-site.)
(Right adjacent: One of the major thoroughfares in the
Egyptian port-city of Alexandria at or about the time of the
Great War – from a vintage post-card)
The only son of Jeremiah (also known as Jerry) Collins
(former wharf labourer but disabled by a broken arm by the
time of enlistment) and Sarah (also known as Jessie) Collins
of 1, Flower Hill* in St. John’s, he had at least one sister, a
Mrs. W.F. Finn of Ropewalk Range, to whom were eventually
sent his medals in 1921.
Private Collins was reported as having died of sickness – of dysentery in the 19th General
Hospital in Alexandria on October 28 of 1915.
*Their later address recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as Ropewalk
Lane.
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(continued)
William Joseph Collins had enlisted at the declared age of twentytwo years.
(The photograph of Private Collins is from the Provincial Archives.)
Private William Joseph Collins was
entitled to the 1914-1915 Star, as well as
to the British War Medal (centre) and to
the Victory Medal (Inter-Allied War
Medal) (right).
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