COUTTS, Colin Campbell
| Service Number: | 2159 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 3 April 1916, Mount Gambier, South Australia |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 43rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Mount Gambier, South Australia, 2 October 1888 |
| Home Town: | OB Flat, Mount Gambier, South Australia |
| Schooling: | OB Flat Public School |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Died of wounds, Passchendaele, Belgium, 12 October 1917, aged 29 years |
| Cemetery: |
Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Lijssenthoek, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Loyal Mount Gambier Lodge No 47 I.O.O.F. M.U. Roll of Honor Board, Mount Gambier Knight & Cleve Pictorial Honour Rolls |
World War 1 Service
| 3 Apr 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2159, Mount Gambier, South Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Aug 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2159, 50th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ballarat embarkation_ship_number: A70 public_note: '' | |
| 12 Aug 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2159, 50th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ballarat, Adelaide | |
| 12 Oct 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2159, 43rd Infantry Battalion, 1st Passchendaele, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2159 awm_unit: 43rd Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1917-10-12 |
Help us honour Colin Campbell Coutts's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Vivien Lane-Byrnes
Colin was born in Mt Gambier on October 2nd 1888. His father George Coutts, emigrated from the Parish of Birse in Aberdeenshire, Scotland to South Australia in 1866. In 1879 he returned to the place of his birth, married Mary Allison Harper, a cousin and brought her back to South Australia.
"Hillside Farm" their home at OB Flat near Mt Gambier was farmed ably by George. However Colin and his surviving siblings from an early age became well acquainted with death. Their father died before Colin was 4. A sister and an elder brother also died within a year of his father's death. Mary Allison, his mother, continued to live at the farm until her death in 1914.
Inevitably there would have been letters and post cards sent from abroad sketching some of his war time activities. These however were lost or destroyed by previous generations. Colin hadn't married by the time he enlisted so there are no direct descendants.
FROM AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS SOCIETY WOUNDED AND MISSING ENQUIRY BUREAU FILES, 1914-18 WAR.
Witness reports
Report made by Inf: Sign. F Hendy. 2579. A. Co
BOULOGNE. 25.4.18
I helped to carry him out from Passchendael: it was a 4 and a half hours journey to Hqrs D/S. He was badly woulded by shell. It was night time, to the right of the sunken road. I was quite close to him when it happened. It was 12p.m. when we reached the D/S. He was alive then, and I helped the doctorto bandage him. He was taken away by ambulance and I heard two days afterwards that he had died. When he was being carried down he was able to speak, but he only asked for a drink. I do not know how far back he got and can give no information as to burial. He came from South Australia, he joined Sept 1917?, short, slightly built.
Part of a letter from L/Cpl. G.A. Riddock D.Co. 43rd Battn A.I.F. France
I am sorry in being so long in being able to send you the necessary information concerning No 2159 Pte. C.C. Coutts, but it was because I could not get it from our Battalion and had to wait until our Headquarters staff got the information needed from other quarters and it has just arrived this afternoon. There are a few details of 5ft 8ins high and dark complexion, and he was Coy Signaller when wounded. I was buried at the spot where he was wounded and after being dugout, I assisted him in carrying him to a Dressing Station.
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