COLLINS, Ernest William
| Service Number: | 4274 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 2 October 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 32nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Croydon, South Australia, date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Croydon, South Australia |
| Schooling: | HIndmarsh Model School and School of Mines Adelaide South Australia |
| Occupation: | Viceman (Blacksmith) |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Messines, Belgium, 20 November 1917, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Messines Ridge British Cemetery Messines Ridge British Cemetery, Messines, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Oct 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4274, 32nd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| Date unknown: | Involvement 4274, 32nd Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Ernest William Collins's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Adelaide Botanic High School
William Ernest Collins was 23 when he first enlisted to fight for Australia on the 2nd of October 1916. Collins had no children and or at the time and his occupation was a Viceman. He only had one known sibling, Martha Mary Collins. The two were born and raised in Croydon South Australia to Mary Jane Collins (Mother) and John James Collins (Father). He stood at the average height of the time, around 5‘8” tall, or 172cm. According to Collins Attestation Paper, he had a medium complexion, brown hair, and hazel eyes.
On the 7th of November 1916 Ernest Williams Collins embarked on the S.S. Afric. The S.S. Afric was a large steamship, originally built for the white star line shipping company by Harland and Wolff Shipyards. It had a reported tonnage of 11,948 and could transport almost 320 persons. It was launched on the 16th of November 1898 and played a major part in transporting materials and persons between Australia (more specifically Sydney) and Liverpool. When World War one broke out, the S.S. Afric was requisitioned by Australia to transport troops to Liverpool and Plymouth.
Collins arrived at Plymouth on the Afric on the 9th of January 1917, the Afric then went on to transport supplies to Liverpool and collect troops who were being moved back to Australia. It then made a trip back to Plymouth to collect troops from Plymouth before traveling to Australia but was shot down in the English Channel by a German torpedo.
Collins, after Disembarking in Plymouth was moved over the English Channel to France.
Collins’s battalion – the 32nd – was marched onto the battlefield on the 12th April 1917 and fought on the battlefield for around 7 months, before getting killed in action by an unknown cause. Collins’s body was then buried in the Messines Ridge British Cemetery in Belgium under the I.D 41. His possessions were given to his mother.
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